|
|
Let's Get Together! (When it's Safe)
Hello, Volunteers! As I have been spending so much time at home and only a little time with co-workers, volunteers, and friends, I am thinking about how we can do the good work of protecting our streams and rivers in the near future.
The information you gather and submit each month (your stream data) is an important first step in stream protection. As data are collected, we can know something about the health of your stream. To move to a second step in the quest for caring for our streams, please think about this: Will you invite me to come monitor with you? We will be outside, more than six feet apart, and I will be wearing my facemask.
A question in your mind might be: Why would having Cheryl come out to my stream offer the stream any protection? Because while we are working together, we will talk about some ways that your monitoring efforts might be get folded into some more visible citizen education. We will talk about what might work in your watershed, in your community, to provide information that people can absorb... information that can lead to action. One thing is for sure: if people do not know you monitor, if they do not know anything about your creek, if they are disconnected from understanding the water cycle - and nature, for that matter - they cannot make good moves toward protecting streams.
So, I am looking for an invitation to come monitor with you, wherever you are in Oklahoma. I am not asking you to get in front of an audience, I am asking for an opportunity to talk about important things. Whether you have been monitoring for ten years, or if you have just started, let's get together. Email me!
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
|
|
Happy May, Volunteers!
Blue Thumb staff are looking forward to slowly and safely transitioning back to a situation that is recognizable as "normal." We miss you. We will return to our offices part-time beginning May 4th. During the month of May, we expect to slowly transition to full-time in the office. As we all know by now, plans regarding COVID-19 are ultimately provisional and dependent upon guidance from health officials and political leaders.
During May, and for the forseeable future, we encourage you to practice additional safety precautions during sampling runs. Additional precautions include maintaining safe distances from others, and possibly limiting your sampling team to people who live in the same household. COVID-19 has recently been found in untreated wastewater. There are no known cases of someone becoming infected from contact with wastewater. If you have any reason to believe your stream receives raw sewage discharges (from failing septic systems or sanitary sewer overflows, for instance), you should avoid sampling. Raw sewage is always dangerous; there is a small chance it may be a little more dangerous right now.
I expect us to slowly transition back to our "normal" educational programming. For a while, at least, we will keep educational gatherings small. As always, we appreciate your hard work and support. Thank you.
Rebecca Bond
Blue Thumb Director
|
|
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
These are still strange times, but I hope you are all doing as well as possible, physical distancing while still being social, getting in some exercise, getting outside; a good way to do this is creek monitoring.
Looking into the future and better times, we are going to have a new way to enter data. We've been hard at work for about a year now, in between our other duties, to create an App/website for easier data entry where you can also view and extract your data. Rebecca Bond (Blue Thumb Director) and I have been working with Karla Spinner (OCC's Database Manager), Shellie Whilloughby (GIS Specialist), and Arizona DEQ (who has been working with the software) and an AWQMS Specialist with the OK Water Resources Board. It takes a team. We are working with Survey123 ESRI software and have created a mobile app (still a website for the current time being), so you will eventually be able to enter your data directly into the App, even while you are at the creek. You'll also be able to attach site photos as well. We are still tweaking the front end of it, but have recently moved to looking at the output end and then eventually when and how I will QA the data and how it will be uploaded into OCC's database. We've been told that volunteers should be able to see their own data and potentially have the capability to graph and chart your data via this software. A lot more work is still needed but we are all very excited and like the look of it thus far. I don't know when we will launch this, hopefully in 2021, if not sooner. There will be a learning curve for us all once this gets launched. So something fun to look forward to!
You all take care. We can't wait to be out working with you all again. But we are still trying to do education from afar. Check out our Facebook videos if you haven't already; we've got bug ID info, fish ID info, activities to do with kids, pollution and creek educational information, and much more.
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
|
|
 Blue Thumb Volunteer Trainings
Muskogee:
June 6 (Stream Ecology Education)
June 7 (Stream Monitoring)*
*Stream Ecology Education Training is a prerequisite to take this training*
|
|
Save the date for the 2020 outdoor education workshop! This workshop is a new spin on our Blue Thumb volunteer conference, bringing together Project WET, Project WILD and Project Learning Tree from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. Enjoy fellowship with citizen scientists and outdoor educators, fun activities, and informative presentations from experts all on the beautiful shores of Grand Lake. More information and registration coming soon! |
|
 The Soil Health Team is taking advantage of the inability to attend Natural Resource Days and meet with partners by working together to develop operating procedures and hold trainings for their soil health assessment using the WORMS (Working on Regenerative Management Systems) application. This application will allow citizen scientists to assess the health of their soil using in-field procedures once a year.
|
|
 |
|
Project WET is offering many new resources in response to school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the available resources include educator trainings, student lessons and activities, and home school resources. Please visit the website to explore these amazing resources. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Candice Miller (405-464-2838).
|
 
- Nurseries need our help! Due to COVID-19, many businesses have been struggling when it comes to selling pollinator plants for the upcoming year. You can learn more about nurseries and where to buy here!
-
Donate your dirt to help the development of novel drugs using the organisms and minerals found right in your backyard!
- With summer quickly approaching, the concern for algae blooms grows. You can help monitor the development of algae blooms and other at a glance water characteristics by downloading the Eye on Water App!
- Don't forget about the "Stream Selfie" project from the Izaak Walton League, the #trashtag movement, and tick testing!
|
|
|
|
|
