Updates From Around the Regions

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Lower Susquehanna River
Upper Allegheny and Genesee Rivers
Lower Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers
Lower Delaware River Region
Lake Erie
Upper Delaware River
Upper Susquehanna River
Juniata River

On Saturday, February 22, 2003 at the Summit for Volunteer Watershed Monitors, participants broke out into their Keystone Watershed Monitoring Network (KWMN) river regions (see map below) to discuss monitoring issues and to network within their KWMN river regions. The following are regional summaries of the discussions or outcomes of each of the regions' breakout sessions.

Lower Susquehanna River
Rudi Erb, Regional Delegate and Lauren Imgrund, Regional Mentor, led the Lower Susquehanna River Regional breakout session. The session began with introductions and a discussion on the services each watershed group or monitor present could offer to other watershed groups within the region. This region also addressed the monitoring needs for watershed groups, to be shared with the KWMN. Participants saw a need for common educational materials and a monitoring listserv. Some of the needs expressed for each watershed group were: accounting for finances, communication with townships, identification of data use, motivating volunteers, educating and encouraging local officials, and educating homeowners on septic and well use.

For more information about this region's breakout session, contact Erb at 717-362-4123 or frogwild@pa.net, or Imgrund at 717-245-1135 or imgrund@dickinson.edu.

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Upper Allegheny and Genesee Rivers
Diane Wilson of DEP and new Regional Delegate, Claire Orner, led the Upper Allegheny and Genesee Rivers Region breakout session. The group discussed the monitoring and watershed needs for each group present. Some of the needs included: training seminars on grant finances with regional and international groups; building a database of problem areas, such as oil and gas wells; recruiting watershed members; developing educational materials for K-12 students; coordinating information between county groups; monitoring and GIS training; storing data; developing study design and plans; and developing a sense of oneness among the watershed community. For more information about this region's breakout session or to share your monitoring or watershed needs, contact Orner at 814-849-9662 or quietcreek@usachoice.net. Regional Mentor, Nick Pinizzotto of Western PA Conservancy can be reached at npinizzotto@paconserve.org for questions about the KWMN.

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Lower Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers
Regional Mentor, Deb Simko of WPCAMR guided the breakout session for the Lower Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers Regions and began by addressing the need for a Regional Delegate to represent the region. Regional Delegates have been named for most of the eleven KWMN river regions, with the exception of the Potomac River and the Lower Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers regions. A Regional Delegate acts as a liaison between the volunteer monitors and the KWMN steering committee, informing the steering committee of the region's training or monitoring needs, as well as any monitoring activities taking place within the river region. Unfortunately, during the session, no one volunteered to accept the vital role as a Regional Delegate for the Lower Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. If you are interested, please contact Deb Simko at 724-837-5271.

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Lower Delaware River Region
The watersheds within the Lower Delaware region vary from beautiful exceptional value streams to severely impaired systems and face a host of issues including AMD, urbanization and development, agriculture, stormwater, and industrial waste. Despite the differences that the Lower Delaware watershed groups are dealing with, several common themes emerged in the regional breakout session. First, was the need for additional resources and volunteers. Groups discussed the potential to share volunteers and to coordinate workdays to accomplish projects together. All the groups agreed that education and awareness were of critical importance to engage their communities in watershed protection and restoration. Another common theme was the diversity of monitoring that is occurring, including the monitoring of birds, invasive plants, and of sediment and erosion from development sites.

To find out more about the Lower Delaware Regional breakout session, contact the Regional Mentor, Kristen Travers at610-268-2153 ext.239 or ktravers@stroudcenter.org. Diane Harris, the Regional Delegate, can also be contacted at 610-933-7773 or ladidih@earthlink.net for more information about the KWMN.

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Lake Erie
The Lake Erie Regional breakout session started off with the monitors introducing themselves and briefly talked about the part they play in watershed protection in the Lake Erie Basin. Most of the monitors represented schools in the Erie area. Asbury Woods Nature Center, the Jr. Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Association (Jr. PLEWA), and Erie Earth Force are all actively involved.

The main topic of discussion was training and the logistics of conducting training sessions to meet the needs of the area. Some of the issues that need addressed include: 1.) How do you keep everyone on the right track; 2.) Should there be watershed tours; 3.) What about joint trainings, school day trainings, or separate trainings for study plans; and 4.) What role could Jr. PLEWA members play? The group concluded that Erie Earth Force and Jr. PLEWA will work on planning a May workshop with school students and will consider planning a watershed tour for the near future. They also decided to have scheduled meetings to discuss specific study plans that will be pursued and agreed to continue to work together to meet the needs of the area.

For more information about the KWMN and monitoring activities in the Lake Erie Region, contact Steve Wasiesky, the Regional Delegate for the Lake Erie Region at 814-835-5356 or wasiesky@troy.mtsd.org.

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Upper Delaware River
In the Upper Delaware River Regional breakout session, the participants, which consisted of volunteer monitors, teachers, watershed specialists and agency representatives, enjoyed the opportunity to network with one another. Because the region is so big and diverse, it was suggested by participants that regional meetings be held in both the upper watershed region and in the lower watershed region. Participants also expressed a strong interest in providing training for student monitoring groups, due to the number of teachers present.

Some of the discussion reflected on the statewide data system. The Upper Delaware participants felt the data system should allow groups to see what other monitors are doing in their watershed region as well as provide the opportunity to connect and share resources. The participants also mentioned a need for sustaining communication among the groups via a newsletter, such as Monitoring Matters.

For more information about the Upper Delaware River KWMN Region, contact Joe Zenes, Regional Delegate at 570-685-2835 or Pocjoe@ptd.net. Faith Zerbe, Regional Mentor, can also be contacted at 610-469-6005 or srk3@worldlynx.net.

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Upper Susquehanna River
Regional Delegate Dorne White and Regional Mentor Mike Lovegreen discussed with regional participants the idea of holding a regional meeting and asked what sorts of topics that they wish to learn more about. Volunteer monitors of the Upper Susquehanna are interested in learning more about study design, data to action, strategic planning, and regional impaired waters. They would also like to hear about case studies and would like assistance with project administration. Plans are currently underway for facilitating a regional meeting to help address some of these needs.

For more information, contact White at 570-639-1723 or dornewhitedl@aol.com or Lovegreen at 570-265-5539 ext.120.

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Juniata River
The breakout session for the Juniata River Region offered approximately 15 participants the opportunity to share and to hear about the watershed activities occurring within their region. The main topic of discussion was the holding of a regional event; however, the area's geographical size was thought to be a prohibitive factor. A survey of the volunteers/groups may help identify what they would need at such an event. One of the most valuable things expressed by the participants, would be a listserv to share each other's newsletters and upcoming events.

Regional Delegate for the Juniata region, Roy McCabe, can be reached at 814-635-4120 or ebtminer@nb.net. Regional Mentor, Ann Devine, can be reached at 717-238-0423 ext.314 or adevine@srbc.net.

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