11/29/2006 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Friends of the Mississippi River Multi- metric IBI based citizen monitoring volunteers to participate in and present at the 2006 Annual River Summit. In order to demonstrate the program's effectiveness and replicability, Dr. Julia Frost Nerbonne of The Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), will design and implement an evaluation of the volunteer monitoring program. Dr. Nerbonne's evaluation will seek to answer the following questions: 1. Are the volunteers providing reliable data? 2. Are volunteers feeling engaged in stewardship? 3. Through which channels are monitoring results being communicated to decision- makers? 4. What are the barriers and bridges to effective use of volunteer data in decision - making? 3. SHEP will provide important on -going monitoring data that will be used by the RCWD and other agencies to evaluate the impact and inform revision of restoration efforts within the watershed as well as to monitor the impacts of continued hydrologic change in the form of ditch maintenance and stormwater management. 4. SHEP is a new model for citizen monitoring. It engages citizens in actively learning about and caring for natural resources while at the same time providing relevant, quality assured data to decision makers. As it is based upon MPCA stream IBIs the model may be replicated throughout the state. 5. SHEP is based upon the model utilized in the highly successful volunteer Wetland Health Evaluation Program (WHEP) in Dakota and Hennepin Counties. Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) has coordinated the Dakota County WHEP for the past two years, growing the program from 85 volunteers in 2003 to 140 volunteers in 2005. WHEP is but one example of the many programs and over 2700 volunteers coordinated by FMR this year in the Twin Cities area. Working closely with our partners, FMR will recruit two teams of volunteers within the Rice Creek Watershed. SHEP will actively engage these volunteers in understanding and evaluating activities from restoration to increased development throughout the watershed that are impacting stream health and impaired waters. 6. Dr. Nerbonne's program evaluation will provide an independent measure of the program's effectiveness. Once monitoring data is quality assured, a final report will be written and disseminated to project partners, local communities and the watershed district. These results will be posted on FMR's website with links to and from partner websites. FMR will coordinate with local partners and community organizations to share published results through newsletters, websites and media outreach. FMR will organize volunteers to present the SHEP results to local city councils, county boards and the watershed district board highlighting correlations between their data, land uses and hydrologic change within the watershed. These presentations serve as an excellent learning opportunity for elected and public officials. Hearing about water quality issues, concerns and successes directly from citizens will have the greatest impact on how water resources are managed by decision - makers. 7. The public education and outreach provided by SHEP is itself a BMP. The monitoring performed by SHEP will provide evaluation of constructed BMPs as part of restoration projects. 8. Rice Creek Watershed has many regionally significant water bodies. Rice Creek is a popular canoe route. The Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park is the largest publicly owned chain of lakes in the metro area and a popular recreation destination. Many of the watershed's lakes such as White Bear Lake, Bald Eagle Lake, Long Lake and Lake Johanna are all popular spots for fishing and recreation. Waterfowl hunting is popular at many of the watershed's wetlands including Hugo Farming WMA and Hardwood Creek WMA. Unfortunately many of these highly valued resources are impaired. 9. Citizen monitoring can be a cost - effective tool providing both quantitative data and educational outreach. Due to the advanced nature of the monitoring program, volunteers will produce meaningful and quality assured data that will provide relevant evaluation of restoration efforts underway within the watershed. Our experience in other areas has shown that volunteer monitoring can be a powerful tool for both mobilizing and energizing committed resource advocates and for connecting citizens in a proactive and supportive manner to their local governments in working towards common goals. Page 2 of 2