Short notice, but in case you have some ideas/grant requests lying around this might be just the thing from the River Network.

We are very pleased to announce that we are again partnering with MillerCoors to award $50,000 in watershed protection grants!

Projects that are eligible for funding will be focused on agricultural and water issues. This may include working with agriculture organizations, individual farmers, Soil & Water Conservation Districts or others involved with the farming community. Projects will be expected to provide long-term benefits to water quality, quantity and/or public education. Funds are available for projects currently underway. There are no geographic restrictions.

This is a contest program with direct public involvement deciding final awardees.

From the pool of submitted proposals, eight finalists will be chosen by committee. The eight chosen proposals will be posted on River Network’s website, and the public encouraged to vote for their favorite project.

The top vote-getting proposal will receive $25,000.

The 2nd place vote-recipient will receive $15,000.

The 3rd place vote recipient will receive $5,000.

The 4th – 8th vote-recipients will each receive $1,000.

Timeline

February 8, 2010
* Proposals Due by 5:00 PM Pacific Time

February 18, 2010
* Finalists notified

February 22, 2010
* Online voting begins

March 19, 2010
* Online voting ends 5:00 PM Pacific Time

March 24, 2010
* Awardees Announced

April 2010 – December 2010
* Projects implemented

Download a PDF of the Criteria and Application at http://www.rivernetwork.org/news/rivernetwork-millercoors-50000grantsRFP-2010 or request one by emailing Matt Burke at mburke@rivernetwork.org.

The Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance, ECWA, was awarded a federal Clean Water Act grant to continue its work in the Eagle Creek Watershed. The watershed includes portions of Boone, Hamilton and Marion counties in central Indiana. The Alliance, and its predecessor the Eagle Creek Watershed Task Force, have worked to improve water quality for over ten years.

The focus of this grant will be to reduce nutrient loads in the water. Excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus provide plenty of food for aquatic plants, especially algae. Excessive algae “blooms” degrade water quality by reducing oxygen and producing taste and odor problems as the algae dies and decomposes. While taste and odor have been problems in past years, blue-green algae presents new challenges for the three area drinking water supply reservoirs. Blue-green algae can produce a toxin called microcystin which can cause eye, ear, skin irritation and in high concentrations be a liver toxin. Blue-green algae has been a particular problem in Geist reservoir in the past.

The Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences at IUPUI recently developed a Microcystin analysis laboratory which is the only one of its type in Indiana. The Center is also the administrator for the Alliances grant as well as providing essential scientific support. Past efforts of the Alliance have included the promotion of no-till farming practices, fencing of livestock from being able to get into streams, manure management systems to reduce runoff into streams, education of hundreds of elementary students in water quality awareness and DNA typing of e. Coli bacteria just to mention a few.

The ECWA’s goal, in this grant, is to limit the amount of nutrients entering our waters through the education of homeowners in reducing the amount of phosphorus used on their lawns. Other groups such as Indiana Wildlife Federation are also working to educate the public on the importance of reducing the amount of nutrients that we put on our lawns that eventually ends up in our waters. Reducing or removing the phosphorus in the fertilizer you apply this spring is something you should consider.

Well, after a year’s absence, filled with many entertaining adventures and learning experiences , we have returned.  Many times I had the very best intentions of posting something interesting and helpful, to share with everyone, but then “something” urgent came up and it was put off till just a bit later.

Well a “bit later” has now become a year! In the spirit of the New Year – I resolve to do better in 2010 – much better.

With New Years and the tradition of making resolutions fast approaching, here is something that you can “test drive” or practice on for a few days prior to making the “resolution commitment”. It deals with time, and our frustration of never having enough of it.

How often do we say or hear, ”If I only had more time, I could …” and ”I have so much Email I can’t get anything done.” It is curious that Email, which originally was intended to improve office communication and productivity, has started to have the opposite effect. Compare the frequency of checking for Email to how often you go to the mailbox or the post office to pick up the daily mail. Hm-mm.

Several experts suggest to setting specific times for reading Email, only two or three times a day, and to not make it the very first thing in the day’s activities as well. When you stop to think about it, email provides a great deal of task distraction or interruptions from; I’ll just look that up and respond, to beginning whole new projects or tasks.

If Email is continually announcing new “incoming” it is something like working in a virtual arterillary attack. So try it for a day or two, setting say before lunch and late afternoon to check and process the in-box and see how much extra time you seem to have. You might start a “success” calendar by putting an “X” on each day of a calendar that you have maintained your committment to yourself and see how long a string you can maintain. Afterall Email is supposed to be a tool to help you with your work, not to be another job to do.

Best of the Holidays and I hope this “gift” works as well for you as it has for me.

Demonstrating the success of watershed management efforts is critical for securing future funding and public support. Yet most watershed groups find that the monitoring methods they are using cannot effectively show the impact of their project, and that demonstrating water quality improvement is prohibitively expensive or beyond their capacity.

Please join us at this one day conference, Wednesday December 3rd in Indianapolis, designed to share experiences where monitoring data have been used successfully to show change, apply what is learned to your own watershed, and to discuss the barriers that still exist.  IDEM Commissioner Tom Easterly will deliver a kick-off address, followed by keynote speakers Tom Davenport (USEPA), Charles Crawford (USGS) and Robert Gillespie (IUPU-FW).  The day will also include small group discussions focusing on issues specific to lakes, reservoirs and wetlands, large streams and rivers, and small streams.

Anyone interested in water monitoring in Indiana is invited to attend.  People actively engaged in monitoring are particularly encouraged to attend and will be given free conference registration if they complete a survey, prior to registering for the conference.  Registration information and a link to the survey are available at http://engineering.purdue.edu/~inwater/conference/.   For additional information, please contact Laura Esman at lesman@purdue.edu or 765-496-6331.

Coincidently while working on some watershed signs for Eagle Creek Watershed, this post from “Water Words That Work” showed up today. The point is made in the post that again we fall into the “watershed ? do I care? ” questions. (See post Watersheds … and video by Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore on this score) To the general public, Entering XYZ Watershed is similar to Entering ABC Soil and Water Conservation District. If you know what they are, cool; if you don’t, well it is just another sign.

Fortunately in Eagle Creek’s case, the reservoir it feeds is a drinking water source for Indianapolis. We use this fact promently on the signs to help connect the nebulous word “watershed” to drinking water. CLICK HERE FOR IMAGE OF SIGN 

Eric at Water Words That Work, makes a good point that if we are going to the time, effort and expense to put up a sign it is good to take a couple of moments and think about what the message is you want it to convey. There is also a “how to” sign guide available for download from the Water Institute of the OAEC.

Recently the University of Minnesota conducted a Best Practices for Field Days workshop at Camp Camby Conference and Retreat Center attended by some 20 folks from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The workshop concentrated on how to build a field trip/day so that the students gain an understanding of what you want and that it is a memorable experience. Relevance, continuity and experiential learning are key building blocks.

While perhaps obvious, the development of a short, catchy, simple sentence that states your theme or “mission statement” for the field day is of utmost importance. Next, and equally important, the theme needs to be integrated into the marketing and used by the organizers, presenters, teachers and volunteers to make the event successful.

Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance held its 3rd annual field day “I can make a difference in Eagle Creek watershed” at Eagle Creek Park this past Friday. Around 150 fifth grade students from Zionsville attended this field day consisting of 5 stations ranging from water testing, wildlife, invasive species, watersheds and water treatment. Each station demonstrated and discussed specific items related to the station where the kids could “make a difference” in the watershed.

By reinforcing the theme, “I can make a difference“, from station to station activities, the end of the day wrap up with the entire group of fifth graders – they eagerly volunteered many activities they each could do to improve water quality in the watershed.

Angie Tilton of Project WET coordinated the field day with help from IDNR, IDEM, the Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance, INDY Parks and Veolia Water NA to mention a few of the many volunteers. Angie was also instrumental in getting the “Best Practices for Field Days” workshop to Indiana and she is an excellent statewide resource. Additional program and evaluation resources can be found at the University of Minnesota and also the University of Wisconsin.

If you’re interested in water quality and watersheds, consider applying for the 2009 Watershed Leadership Academy. The Academy, organized by Purdue University with support from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and other Indiana conservation agencies and organizations, gives participants the chance to:

• Engage in basic and advanced level watershed topics covering leadership principles, watershed science, organization and communication, technology and GIS, stakeholder involvement techniques and policy skills
• Meet, learn from, and build a network of peers
• Interact with topic experts
• Gain strategies, skills, and resources for successful watershed management
• Earn a Professional Certificate in Watershed Management

 

Enrollment deadline: November 1, 2008

Web site: for application and information about the Academy, visit http://www.purdue.edu/watersheds

Academy Fee: $500, due on Dec 10, 2008 (includes lodging, food and course materials)

Format: Training includes three face-to-face group sessions and distance learning, online (approximately 3-4 hrs./week). The Academy runs from January to May, 2009

Recognition: Participants who complete all requirements earn a Purdue University Continuing Education Professional Certificate in Watershed Management.

For more information please contact Jane Frankenberger.

Saturday, September 13th, 30 groups from five counties coordinated together to clean up junk along a 75 mile stretch of the White River. Aiding in the coordination were the Friends of White River and the Upper White River Watershed Alliance.

Along with all the organizing efforts, and the actual cleanup itself, they acheived a lot more by increasing public awareness with four articles in the Indianapolis Star, including one on the front page. As more newspapers increase their web presence, don’t forget “community” sections whether hard copy or internet to heighten awareness of your group and its efforts.

Articles appeared September 6, September 9, September 12 and a wrapup on September 14.

Members of the Technical Committee of the Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance (ECWA) adjourned their meeting September 12th to tour and view the stormwater practices at INTECH Park. As well as being the largest office park in Indiana, it is a leader in combing advanced infrastructure design with low impact development and stormwater practices, something they call “Parkology – the marriage between technology and nature”.

 

Jill details some of the practices that will be seen

Joining the committee, were local planning officials from Zionsville as well as a Boone County Commissioner, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, MS4 Administrators and others interested in the development challenges the southeastern corner of Boone County faces. Jill Hoffman of Empower Results, and ECWA Coordinator, explained the directing of runoff from the parking lots through bio-swales as primary treatment before entering detention ponds and finally a constructed wetland when exiting the park. She emphasized the importance of using a “treatment train” approach and its ability to improve stormwater above minimal required standards. 

 

 

A major factor of INTECH contributing to “… beautiful waterscapes and recreation areas (that) are unparalleled.” is STORMWATER! Jill’s mantra of “celebrate stormwater” was clearly demonstrated during the tour.

 

But most important was the audience of local officials responsible for the planning and passing of ordinances that control development. All too often developers, such as those at INTECH Park, are faced with a mountain of regulations and requirements, often conflicting, all time consuming, that inhibit using new practices or thinking outside the box. Many times due to the pressures of time and economics, a developer will yield to the bureaucracy and just build it to code; another strip mall, another vinyl village, or whatever to meet the code requirements at the minimum. Meeting the minimum doesn’t improve water quality.

Eagle Creek Watershed Alliance has been a leader in targeting local officials to educate them to the need for more flexibility in ordinances and codes so that new and innovative practices aren’t met by a wall of red tape and “we have always done it this way” mentality. It is an important viewpoint that your watershed may wish to consider, if you haven’t done so already.