The MiCorps Monitor: August 2009

Article 2:
2009 Stream Monitoring Training Event

This year's workshop on stream monitoring methods for MiCorps Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program grant recipients and other interested parties was held on June 29, 2009 at the beautiful Devries Nature Conservancy in Owosso. This is the second year that the DeVries Nature Conservancy has opened their doors free-of-charge to the MiCorps Program. Our thanks go to executive director Ken Algozin for his hospitality and friendliness.

The event was well attended, with 17 participants attending. Participants came from all areas of Michigan. Groups represented include Branch County Conservation District, the Hiawatha Sportsmen’s Club, Jackson County Conservation District, Michigan Trout Unlimited, Mona Lake Watershed Council, Muskegon County Conservation District, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A variety of topics were covered with indoor lectures and discussions, such as volunteer recruitment and retention, writing a quality assurance project plan, and macroinvertebrate identification. Pouring rain did not deter the participants from getting outside and into the raging Shiawassee River to learn the ins and outs of collecting macroinvertebrates. The trainees also had the opportunity to study their recently captured live bugs under scopes during the identification training session.

New to this year’s training was the introduction of a revised comprehensive habitat assessment protocol and datasheet that will be used for new monitoring projects as of this year. This new habitat assessment is easier to navigate and understand than the old one and should be a useful tool for MiCorps groups. It also contains directions for obtaining some quantitative stream substrate measurements. Both the new and old datasheets are now available at www.micorps.net/streamresources.html, and MiCorps staff are working to update the MiCorps Data Exchange to accommodate this new data entry format.

Author:
Dr. Paul Steen
MiCorps Staff
Huron River Watershed Council

MiCorps