Re: Earth Day Discussion Topic: What do you (want to) monitor?

[Tom Dale <thdale@core.com>]

We recently had a discussion of the Stream Quality Scores for our September sampling event.  It was our first sampling event and thus the scores are our first set of scores.  For 6 sampling sites in the Upper AuSable River Watershed, we had scores of 52.4, 56.9, 50.3, 50.4, 55.3,  & 51.2.  Our discussion was lively, but basically boiled down to the question of what do those numbers really mean.  We had a couple very accomplished statisticians in our midst and that made the discussion even more worrisome that casual observers might misunderstand what our numbers really mean.  It's like the school district  MEAP scores that get published in newspapers.  What conclusions can be drawn from MiCorps' brand of Stream Quality Scores.

On Apr 22, 2009, at 7:48 AM, Ric Lawson wrote:

By the way, if you are wondering how to comment to the list, simply “reply all” or send an e-mail to micorps@great-lakes.net and it will go to the entire MiCorps discussion list.  If you keep the subject as above, then list members can track the discussion string by topic.

 

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Ric Lawson

Watershed Planner

 

Huron River Watershed Council

1100 N. Main St., Suite 210

Ann Arbor, MI  48104

p: 734.769.5123 x13

f: 734.998.0163

www.hrwc.org

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Join the Huron River Watershed Council, protecting the Huron River since 1965. 

More info:  www.hrwc.org

 

From: owner-micorps@great-lakes.net [mailto:owner-micorps@great-lakes.net] On Behalf Of Ric Lawson
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 10:07 AM
To: micorps@great-lakes.net
Subject: Earth Day Discussion Topic: What do you (want to) monitor?

 

Happy Earth Day Volunteers and Coordinators!

 

In the spirit of the Earth Day vision of grassroots activism to encourage positive environmental change, I would like to start a discussion about how MiCorps can change to better support volunteer monitoring groups across the state.  The April edition of The MiCorps Monitor newsletter, released yesterday, included a discussion topic about what you, the volunteer monitoring community in Michigan, really want to monitor.  As explained in the article, MiCorps has initially chosen to focus on a small set of parameters and standardize the collection of data for those parameters across the state.  There are many other important environmental variables that can be very informative about the quality of our state’s waterways.  Many can be monitored by volunteers with proper training and organization.

 

Let’s start this discussion by asking what you currently are monitoring and what you would like to monitor and why.  Feel free to comment on what you think you would need to get such an effort going.  How can MiCorps help?  Don’t be afraid to be critical of MiCorps efforts to date.  We have thick skin.  We can take it.

 

Please send a comment to the list.  It doesn’t have to be long or even fully thought out.  We want to know what you are thinking about.  It’s you who MiCorps was designed to support.

 

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Ric Lawson

Watershed Planner

MiCorps Staff

 

Huron River Watershed Council

1100 N. Main St., Suite 210

Ann Arbor, MI  48104

p: 734.769.5123 x13

f: 734.998.0163

www.hrwc.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Join the Huron River Watershed Council, protecting the Huron River since 1965. 

More info:  www.hrwc.org