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Hey, Volunteers!
Congratulations to our winners of high- quality milkweed seed last month. Texts and emails came in and seed was mailed to the volunteers who contacted me. Winners were Peter Grant, Jeannie Coley, Cappi Coleman, and Stephanie Jeffords. Your Blue Thumb staff members take time to put together information and announcements that are designed to pique your interest and help you be a well-informed volunteer. Please read your newsletter!
A special gift that will be mailed to the first five volunteers to email or text me (918-398-1804) are vintage Blue Thumb bandanas! Never again will this pattern and color of bandana be repeated. Be fast and let me know that you need a vintage bandana!
Cheryl Cheadle Volunteer Coordinator
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Happy Holidays, Blue Thumbers!
This time last year, we were putting the finishing touches on plans for a Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon, eagerly looking forward to spending time with our extended Blue Thumb family. This year, we hoped to host an Outdoor Education Conference for Blue Thumb volunteers and Project WET, Project Wild, and Project Learning Tree facilitators. In light of COVID, we postponed the workshop until next fall. Becky, Kim, Cheryl, Candice and I regret the missed opportunity to meet with you face-to-face and celebrate your efforts. 2020 has been a challenge, but you have continued collecting and submitting valuable data. We are looking forward to 2021. We hope to host an engaging Outdoor Education Workshop, hold trainings throughout the state, continue our partnership with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, offer Full Circle Citizenship training and support the expansion of the Yard by Yard Program. As always, we will continue to support volunteers, complete QA training, collect macroinverebrates and complete fish collections, and educate our fellow Oklahomans about the importance of protecting water resources. Thank you for traveling this path with us. We wish you and your families a happy and safe holiday season.
Rebecca Bond Blue Thumb Director
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To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
I just want to personally wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy 2021. I wish you good health, good celebration of the holidays, and hopefully 2021 is better for the world. Take care. We look forward to getting into your creek with you early 2021 for bug collecting and onsite QA.
Kim Shaw Blue Thumb QA Officer
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 Stillwater: January 30 (Stream Ecology Education) January 31 (Stream Monitoring)*
*Stream Ecology Education Training is a prerequisite to take this training*
Sign up here!
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  Blue Thumb is supporting the new Yard by Yard statewide effort through conservation districts!
The Oklahoma Blue Thumb Program is an important sponsor of the new statewide "Yard by Yard" community resiliency project. Conservation Districts that are members of Friends of Blue Thumb and are current with the OACD dues can apply. To learn more about the program, view the introductory video from the Oklahoma County Conservation Conservation District. Keep in mind that it focuses on Oklahoma County. The statewide effort will expand from this.
The beauty of the Yard by Yard program is that it:
- Recognizes good conservation work
- Provides opportunities to city dwellers
- Makes people aware of the good work done by conservation districts
- Feeds pollinators
- Builds healthy soil
- Filters pollutants from runoff
- Reduces flooding
All of this can be accomplished without big crowds and meetings!
Conservation Districts that qualify are encouraged to watch the video and talk to their board members about participation. An official announcement and opportunity to apply will be emailed to all qualifying districts soon. For more information, email Cheryl Cheadle.
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- Share your experiences of climate change as you upload your observations to ISeeChange, a Citizen Scientist program to help change our world for the better!
- Share your nature photos, confirm others observations, and connect with nature using iSpot!
- Did you know that there is a whole association for Citizen Scientists? You can become a member and learn more about it here!
- Don't forget about the "Stream Selfie" project from the Izaak Walton League, the #trashtag movement, and tick testing!
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