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Volunteer Action Potential!
I am delighted to be the Volunteer Coordinator for the Blue Thumb Program. A few of the duties in this position include:
- Recruiting volunteers for Blue Thumb trainings
- Letting volunteers know about the upcoming events where their help is needed
- Working with volunteers to help them gain comfort and effectiveness when educating others
- Encouraging volunteers to plan and execute their own events within their communities and watersheds
In addition, I, along with all other Blue Thumb staff members, participate in activities to educate the public about pollution prevention and living sustainably.This might be accomplished through a presentation to a local civic group, taking children out to a creek for a freshwater ecology introduction, or scheduling a Blue Thumb training in a location where people are hungry to get involved in stream protection.
As a volunteer, you might sometimes wonder what your role is, especially if you are new, and if you are not monitoring a stream. Don't wonder too long - get in touch with me, or with any other Blue Thumb staff member, and let's look at helping you move a good direction. The concept of the Volunteer Coordinator is a little new; I might not have everything quite right yet, so help me give you the opportunities you were looking forward to when you signed up for training. The time is now to make a commitment to helping others understand and love their waterways in 2020.
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
Happy New Year! The '20s are back!
Not all of the results are in yet from the Fall 2019 QA session, but I did want to come up with a short summary/discussion. The majority of you did really well with the QA questions. Good job! But there are still some things to "clear up" (pun intended).
"Clean" in the Site Observations section of the datasheet DOES NOT equal "Clear" water. I've seen "Clean" circles less (good job, you are learning), but some are still circling "Clean" along with other site observations. This is not a major data issue, as I do correct this when I QA your data, but I do want you all to understand the premise behind what is a "Clean" site.
Correctly circling "Clean" for site observations will hardly ever happen for well over the majority of the sites, but it can happen. If you observe a small amount of trash, animal waste, persistent bubbles (classified as "Foam/Scum"), anything floating, silt, iron precipitates, or anything else from that list (anything from #3 through #16), then you CANNOT circle "Clean". This has nothing to do with your chemical tests, just site observations that you see while you are at the creek. Site observations DO include the banks and upper banks as well, since this will eventually feed into the creek.
This QA session also had a few more questions. The first one had to deal with what to do with your liquid waste. The correct answer is to either flush it down a toilet (that is not connected to a septic system), or put it in a bag of kitty litter. The second question, which was how to properly dry your equipment, is also important. You must always let your equipment air dry after washing it; NEVER use any type of towel or oven/heat (they can scratch the equipment, contain contaminates, or break the glass).
A quick analysis for the chemical test QA portion of this session:
- 8/61 (13%) of people had 1 too many drops for the Chloride test
- 16/61 (26%) of people for the Nitrate test were out of range, though overall still within the general ballpark
- Please do follow the correct time frame of waiting 30 seconds before reading this test
- Take a few extra seconds to really look at the color development, don't just take a quick look and come up with a number
QA is mandatory for each team. At least 1 person per team needs to go through the quarterly QA. This is very important for the stability of the program and for the data you all generate. Please take it seriously, but have fun with it too.
It is also very important to completely fill out the QA datasheet: your name, date, stream site, county, lot #'s of the reagents that you used at that QA, water temperature, and answer the questions on the back of the sheet. If the chemical test answers are off, it might be linked to a common lot #.
A few reminders:
- Remember to keep your reagents above freezing this winter!
- Onsite QA's and winter bug collections will start early January through March 15th. A Blue Thumb staff member will be in touch with you to get you scheduled.
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
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