Citizen Environmental Monitoring Conference

Citizen Environmental Monitoring in Appalachia: Building Environmental Monitoring Programs for Validity, Impact and Sustainability

DRAFT, PROVISIONAL AGENDA

November 4, 2004

9:30-11:15

Welcome to Bristol and Opening Remarks- Colin Donohue, AFRC and Rob Turner, SAMAB

Validity, Impact and Sustainability for Grandmas, School Kids and Soccer Dads: Developing strategies for science by the people and for the people - Ken Cooke, Kentucky Water Watch

Primary and Secondary Benefits Associated with Citizen Environmental Monitoring: Linda Randolph, US. Forest Service, Pisgah National Forest
Kris Stepenuck, University of Wisconsin Extension and Bill Deutsch, Alabama Water Watch

BREAK
11:15-11:30

11:30-12:15

Keynote Address: Dr. Hague Vaughan, Director of Canada's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Network Coordinating Office

LUNCH
12:15-1:15

1:15-2:30
Under What Conditions Does Volunteer Monitoring Work?

Gathering Baseline Information- Jay Gilliam, Virginia Save Our Streams

Educating the Public- Robert Gable, Stream Quality Monitoring Project, Ohio

Indicating Problem Areas- Steve Brooks, Virginia Forest Watch

BREAK
2:30-2:45

Breakout Sessions I
2:45-4:00
NOTE: These sessions run concurrently

The Clean Water Act and Monitoring Water Quality:
Engaging Citizens in the 303 (d) listing process with Abby Markowitz, Tetra Tech

State of Invasive Species Monitoring and Prioritizing Next Steps with Jack Ranney, SAMAB

State of Forest Health Monitoring:
How to measure forest health, challenges faced and what can volunteers measure? With Ken Stolte, U.S. Forest Service and Andy Brown, SAMAB

Monitoring Non-Timber Forest Products with Gary Kauffman, U.S. Forest Service & Heidi Ballard, University of California at Berkley

BREAK
4:00-4:15

4:15-5:30

Down the River : Why we use citizens to monitor water quality?
Challenges of continuing funding, data acceptance and difficulty with the state with Jay Gilliam, VA Save Our Streams
Next steps in Water Quality Monitoring with Linda Green, URI Extension

Appalachian Trail Environmental Inventory and Monitoring Web Community with John Peine, SAMAB

Canada's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Network and the Community-Based Monitoring Model with Hague Vaughan

A Primer for Selecting Forest Biodiversity Indicators with Andy Whitman, Manomet

EXHIBIT SESSION
5:30-7:00

DINNER
6:30-8:00

8:00-10:00
The Ball Sisters Band; a bluegrass and acoustic group from the hills of Eastern Tennessee

DRAFT, PROVISIONAL AGENDA

November 5, 2004

8:30-9:00
People Power- Panel Discussion

Panelists include: Richard Hart, Ecologist and Coordinator of Chewaucan Biophysical Monitoring Project in Lakeview, Oregon, Learn & Serve, Tom Benjamin , Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, Americorps, Courtney Crabtree, Student Conservation Association

9:10-10:25 - BREAKOUT SESSIONS I
NOTE: Sessions run concurrently

Creating Partnerships: Building on One Another's Strengths

Apples and Oranges: Data Comparability and Standardization

Engaged Citizens and Sophisticated Technology Working in Concert to Deal With the Invasive Plant Impact on Biodiversity

Landowner Inventory and Monitoring of Forest Resources

Monitoring Acid Mine Drainage: Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team

BREAK
10:25-10:40

10:40-11:55 - BREAKOUT SESSIONS II
NOTE: Sessions run concurrently

Getting to the Water's Edge: Giving the River and Forest a Voice Even Bureaucrats Can Hear with Ken Cooke, Kentucky Water Watch & Cheryl Snyder, PA DEP, Bureau of Watershed Management

Web Applications for Empowering Community Monitoring with PJ Nabors, SAMAB

Creating a Buzz::World Water Monitoring Day with Ed Moyer, America's Clean Water Foundation

Monitoring Biodiversity: A Handbook on Participatory Biodiversity Inventory and Monitoring of Sustainable Forest Management with Heidi Ballard, University of California at Berkley

Zikuas, Smog and You with Jane Forrest Redfern, Rural Action, Carol Andress, Environmental Defense

LUNCH
12:00 - 1:30

1:30-2:45
Show Me the Money: Private Grants

Show Me the Money: Private Grants- Alexandra Kenny, Director of Grants Programs for the National Forest Foundation
Local Fundraising - Jane Forrest Redfern, Executive Director of Rural Action
Public Money- Americorps VISTA

2:45 - 2:55 BREAK

2:55 - 4:10- BREAKOUT SESSIONS III
NOTE: Sessions run concurrently

People Power: Recruiting, Training & Retaining Volunteers with Cathy Sutphin, VA Tech

Faith-Based Monitoring: Engaging Religious Institutions in the Monitoring of our Natural Resources with Bill Deutsch, Alabama Water Watch

Volunteer Monitoring of Invasive Forest Pests and Plants: The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Chattooga Conservancy
Volunteer Monitoring of Old Growth Forests with Norma Ivey, Western North Carolina Alliance

The Mechanics of Monitoring with Richard Hart, Chewaucan Biophysical Monitoring Project

Citizen Science: Preservation of the Upper Little Tennessee River with Paul Carlson, Land Trust for the Little Tennessee

BREAK
4:10-4:25

4:25-5:35 - SESSIONS IV
NOTE: Sessions run concurrently

Communication Strategies That Work for Community-Based Environmental Protection with Abby Markowitz, Tetra Tech

To Be Announced

Zip Code 97630: Citizens Save Their Jobs and Learn to Care for Their Forest with Richard Hart,Chewaucan Biophysical Monitoring Project

Citizen Monitoring of Fire Projects in the Southern Appalachians with Hugh Irwin, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition

Appalachian Trail Conference and "Keeping Track" with Matt Stevens, Appalachian Trail Conference

HOW DO WE PROMOTE CITIZEN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING?
Colin Donohue

Dinner is on your own. Pianist, Anthony Mangrum, and guitarist and vocalist, Lightning Charlie, will be playing in the Holiday Inn Lounge.

November 6, 2004

Muddy Boots – Field Trips

Invasive Alien Species Monitoring

Jack Ranney of the University of Tennessee and SAMAB will take you on a field trip to Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area to provide instruction on, and field application of protocols used by volunteers with the SAMAB Volunteer Invasive Plant Monitoring effort. The protocol is based on identification of approximately 15 invasive plant species and locating them using GPS units. A datasheet will be available. This is for monitoring along trails, roads, etc. and is not a systematic or random sampling approach. The protocol calls for identifying the start and end point for a monitored section, the GPS location of located invasive plants, notes on proximal location and size of infestation, and indications of other species occurring with the one identified. It is a first run method at identifying what is where. The approach has been used by many trail/hiking clubs, university volunteer groups, the Forest Service and National Park Service to monitor for invasive alien plants near significant natural areas along the Appalachian Trail . Cecil Thomas, biologist will also speak on the practical use of monitoring data for management of high elevation “balds” (mountaintop prairies).

Forest Health Monitoring

Get your hands dirty in the field with Ken Stolte of the U.S. Forest Service to learn about their rigorous new protocols for volunteer monitoring of forest health. The Forest Health Monitoring program is a system of methods to monitor forest ecosystem health and sustainability at multiple spatial scales (remote sensing to ground monitoring). The ground monitoring component is a fixed-area plot system that collects data on trees (growth, reproduction, mortality, crown condition, and damage), understory vegetation (native and exotic plants), lichen communities, soils (chemistry, physical structure, erosion, and compaction), down woody debris (coarse and fine), fuel loading, and ozone bioindicators. This system is amendable to collection of data for a variety of purposes and in a variety of habitats (forests, riparian forests, urban forests, trails, etc.). Because of the broad suite of indicators used, the system provides information to assess insect and disease damage, air pollution impacts, climate change, effects of urbanization, spread of exotic species, fuel loading and fire risk, timber harvest effects, etc. This system can be adapted for use to monitor the health of forests along the Appalachian Trail. These methods have been transferred to other countries, and will be taught Saturday to you citizen-scientists for use in monitoring the impacts of exotic plant species on forest ecosystems, monitoring the health of forests, etc. What is important in this technology transfer is that citizen scientists receive the same level of training as foresters establishing FHM plots, and then are tested to see that the methods are successfully transferred and used to establish monitoring plots. In the field you will see the layout of an FHM plot, be shown how some of the indicators work, and show how the data are analyzed and used in assessments of forest health.

Water Quality Monitoring

Join Jay Gilliam of Virginia Save-Our-Streams (VA SOS) and members of the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable (UTRR) in getting your feet wet at the Riverside Community Center monitoring station located in Chilhowie, Virginia on the south fork of the Holston River. Virginia Save-Our-Streams volunteer monitors use a variety of water quality monitoring methods depending upon their location within Virginia and the questions they want to answer. Data collected by VA SOS certified monitors is used by a variety of data users including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The VA SOS Program wants to help as many citizens as possible to participate in the process and become local leaders in the quest for clean water. Volunteers with the UTRR have been using a VA SOS protocol to monitor aquatic “bugs” using a kick seine to gauge stream health and water quality. Research to validate and improve the western Virginia method has been carried out at Virginia Tech.
This water quality monitoring field trip is sponsored by the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable.

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