Why Adopt A Stream?
Written by Dr. Checo Colon-Guad, Associate Professor of Biology at Georgia Southern University Freshwater ecosystems such as rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands provide us with clean drinking water, food, and recreational opportunities. Arguably, we depend on clean water for the quality of life we enjoy and on adequate quantity of clean water to sustain daily living. Yet these resources are increasingly threatened by human demand on freshwater resources. Human caused changes to freshwater ecosystems have led to increased rates of habitat and species losses that put at risk the unique services these systems provide. This crisis demands an increasing need for knowledge that can help balance our needs with the needs of our ecosystems. Freshwater scientists in government agencies, academic institutions, private consultants, and similar entities are tirelessly working to obtain this information and achieve a common goal of preserving our freshwater ecosystems. Unfortunately, these folks cannot cover the entirety of our state at the same time to provide assessment of out freshwater resources. Preserving the quality of our waters requires the cooperation of multiple stakeholders from government agencies, businesses, private organizations, and each one of us as citizens. One way we make a difference is by contributing to the efforts that assess the health and condition of our waterways. The Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (GA AAS) program provides a mechanism for citizens to be part of these efforts. GA AAS is a volunteer monitoring program coordinated by the state’s Department of Natural Resources to oversee the collaborative efforts of citizen scientists to observe and report on the conditions of our local rivers and streams. Through this program citizens from across all areas of the state can provide a watchful eye on the status of their local watershed and collectively can provide an initial assessment of the health and condition of states freshwater resources. The GA AAS program’s goals are to increase public Awareness, collect quality baseline Data, gather Observations, facilitate Partnerships between citizens and local governments, and provide Tools and Training. These goals can be easily remembered by the acronym ADOPT and the overarching theme of the program can be seen as encouraging a collective effort to embrace the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of our state’s freshwater resources. The program offers hands-on activities for citizens to get involved in monitoring their local watersheds. These activities include visual surveys, chemical and biological monitoring, organized clean-ups, and other outreach activities. Citizens can get involved by simply ‘adopting’ or registering their local stream and recording observations (i.e., visual surveys) of the current conditions of the system. Citizens can also go a step further and become certified monitoring volunteers of the program by completing training workshops to collect quality data on the chemical characteristics of the waterbody and its biological attributes. Certified volunteers may conduct monthly data for chemical and bacterial monitoring of the system and quarterly (i.e., seasonal) data for some of the biological attributes of the system (e.g., aquatic macroinvertebrates) that inform on the diversity of pollution sensitive versus pollution tolerant groups inhabiting the system. Together, these data provide valuable information that helps government agencies and conservation groups better manage our local waterways. Ultimately, the information gathered by programs like GA AAS helps in the development of educational materials, watershed management plans, and is even used to lead restoration efforts. There are over two-thousand active GA AAS volunteers, more than 700 active monitoring sites, and over four-thousand monitoring events each year. Yet, there’s still more work that can be done and many more miles of streams that can use our help. It can all start with you! Links to websites and videos: Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Find your local GA AAS coordinator It all begins with you – GA AAS video
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Written by Dr. Kania Greer, Director of Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM Education at Georgia Southern University
Citizen science while a new term in our vernacular has been in practice for generations. Birdwatching and recording has been using citizen collected data since the late 1800’s and the Audubon Society has been conducting specific bird counts since the early 1900’s. With the widespread expansion of the internet it has become easier to engage people around the world in data collection and mining rather than relying on a select groups of individuals. In addition, the internet allows data to be quickly uploaded and added to the body of evidence giving scientists immediate access to it. With the advent of smart phones citizen science has grown even more, as now real time location data can be collected at the time an event/sighting is recorded (no need for field books or journals). This provides even more opportunities for regular people to add to the body of literature scientists use to understand how the world works and what changes are taking place. At its core, citizen science is the practice of engaging individuals or groups of individuals in scientific data collection. By its very nature it is engaging because it deals with local phenomena in a place that is familiar and important to those collecting the data. More often than not, no advanced technology or special equipment is needed and it simply requires people to do what they enjoy be it bird watching, internet searches, or hiking amongst other things. While engaging in these activities citizen scientists can take pictures, record sightings, or test water quality and then report it back on researcher based websites where it becomes part of a larger data set that scientists use to track changes over time. It is important to note, that citizen science can take place out on a school ground, backyard, park, shopping mall, or anywhere else people and things interact. Opportunities for data are everywhere! While engaging with scientists is an important factor of citizen science for groups just starting out (teachers, classes) you may not find a data repository for what you and your students are interested in studying or that is relevant to your location or place. This does not mean citizen science cannot take place in a more controlled environment. Your students could develop their own citizen science project just by investigating their school grounds, or a local body of water such as a drainage ditch, pond, or stream. In other words, to get started you don’t have to take students on a field trip to look at phenomena away from campus. Students on campus could observe the number and types of bugs, flowers, weeds, or birds that inhabit the school grounds over the changing seasons. If being outside is not an option students can collect data on the number of students who use recycling bins as opposed to those who don’t, or how early car line up to pick up students after school. There are a myriad of things that will allow students to get learn about observing their world. With a little thought, you can develop a citizen science project and basic data collection sheets and start recording data over time. This will allow you to continue to add to the data year after year. Better yet, find out what the students want to know. Read the local papers, find out what’s happening in your community and set up a project around that. If your students are able, have them collect data outside of school too. Having them start in a controlled environment ensures that when and if you do decide to participate in a more global project that the data your students collect is recorded properly and is valid for the project. Some examples of citizen science that you may get involved with are: Adopt-A-Stream Georgia Youth Birding Competition North American Butterfly Count Earthforce Seechi Dip-In Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Georgia DNR Caterpillar Count FrogWatch USA Written by Dr. Lacey Huffling, Assistant Professor of Science Education at Georgia Southern University Nestled 60 miles from the Georgia Coast on the Georgia-Florida border is one of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystems, a 412,000-acre black water swamp known as the Okefenokee. The Okefenokee is a unique wetland that is the source of two rivers: The Suwanee and the St. Mary’s. With 85% draining to the Suwannee River, which flows to the Gulf, and the other 15% draining to the St. Mary’s, which flows to the Atlantic, the Okefenokee rises to the top of Georgia wetlands when considering a place to train Georgia teachers on water quality monitoring. What better place to learn how to monitor local water quality than in one of Georgia’s most unique environments. The abundance of biodiversity and human impacts from the past position the Okefenokee as a state-wide case study that can be used to address many of the Georgia Standards of Excellence for Science. Haven of Biodiversity Okefenokee is home to a large array of flora and fauna. There are 48 species of mammals, over 200 species of birds, 33 species of fish, 101 species of reptiles and amphibians, and an undetermined number of invertebrates. There are several threatened and endangered species, such as red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis), wood storks (Mycteria americana), indigo snakes (Drymarchon corais couperi), and Florida panthers. The following are several other species that are of special concern on the refuge include: the gopher tortoise; Sherman’s fox squirrel (Sciurus niger niger); round-tailed muskrat (Neofiber alleni exoristus); Bachman’s sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis); Florida sandhill crane (Grus Canadensis pratensis); neotropical migratory birds; black-banded sunfish (Enneacanthus chaetodon); mud sunfish (Acantharchus pomotis); and banded topminnow (Fundulus cingulatus) (U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, 2006). Human impacts and the Swamp In the 1890s, there were attempts to drain the Okefenokee for logging; however, this was not successful an endeavor. A few years later in 1909, the logging of the Okefenokee began in earnest and continued until 1927. Over this 18 year period, over 423 million board feet of timber was removed with most of the logging affecting cypress trees. In 1918, The Okefenokee Society formed to advocate for the swamp to be preserved. In 1937, President Roosevelt issued an executive order and deemed the Okefenokee a national wildlife refuge. Today the expansion of regions surrounding the swamp are beginning to place a higher demand on the aquifer which is a concern for many. Connections to Georgia Standards of Excellence Here are a few of the standards of excellence that can be related to Swamp ecology. 7th grade Life Science S7L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the diversity of living organisms and how they can be compared scientifically. S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with one another and their environments. S7L5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information from multiple sources to explain the theory of evolution of living organisms through inherited characteristics. Biology SB5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the interdependence of all organisms on one another and their environment. SB6. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the theory of evolution. Environmental Science SEV1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem. SEV2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to construct explanations of stability and change in Earth’s ecosystems. SEV3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to evaluate types, availability, allocation, and sustainability of energy resources. SEV4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze human impact on natural resources. Interested in Learning More? If this short overview of the Okefenokee has piqued your interest, here are some resources to learn more: A Naturalist's Guide to the Okefenokee Swamp by Taylor Schoettle Natural History of the Okefenokee Swamp by Whit Gibbons in New Georgia Encyclopedia Human History of the Okefenokee Swamp by C.T. Trowell in New Georgia Encyclopedia Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plan by U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region Tree Castle Island by Jean Craighead George is set within the Okefenokee and a great introduction to the swamp for younger readers. Okefenokee Swamp Live by Georgia Public Television Georgia’s Own Swamp - A trip in a canoe with Naturalist, Don Berryhill by Georgia Public Television Georgia Outdoors: Okefenokee by Georgia Public Television Okefenokee: National Wildlife Refuge - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Okefenokee Swamp by Georgia Department of Natural Resources Ready to visit this amazing ecosystem, visit our partner pages for how to plan your Okefenokee exploration. The North Entrance - The Swamp Park in Waycross, GA The West Entrance - Stephen C. Foster Park in Fargo, GA The East Entrance - Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and Okefenokee Adventures in Folkston, GA |
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June 2019
CategoriesSupported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine under the Grant Agreement: 20000G9576
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