Blue Thumb Volunteers!
Invite me to your stream! I am filled with thankfulness for the chance to be working with people outdoors (and also in some cases indoors) again. I recently visited a volunteer at their stream, and hope to join you at your stream as well. If you can invite friends and neighbors, all the better!
You may be getting a call…Kim, Candice, Becky, and I are once again traveling to various areas of the state to help with education programs. We need volunteer help! While it is a little slow getting started, expect to be getting emails and texts about coming aboard and helping. I encourage you to put a high priority on doing good work for our one and only earth.
We may be getting a call…Let us know if your community is holding an event and you want to make Blue Thumb a presence there! Do you want to borrow an exhibit? Need help with ideas for interacting with students? Want to engage your local library? Let’s work together.
Looking to take a refresher course? Once again Blue Thumb is traveling the state to offer the popular “Blue Thumb Training for New Volunteers.” We just held a training in early April in Stillwater, and we are in the planning stages of offering a training in the OKC area June 12 and 13. Tell your friends and family members. Let’s make good things happen for Oklahoma streams and rivers. Oh, and the second weekend in September a training will be offered in Alva, sponsored by NWOSU.
Blue Thumb staff members document the events and activities that keep us roaming across the state on our popular Facebook Page. Also visit the new and exciting Yard by Yard Facebook Page. When you share information, click like, and leave comments you are helping build a bigger audience and appeal to more people. Let’s keep our message moving!
What would you like to see happen? How can we best prepare you to educate the public and be the best stream monitor you can be? Are you interested in small group education workshops? Shall we meet at your stream? Let us know what type of support is going to give you the inspiration needed to keep fighting the good fight for protecting our precious streams and rivers.
Congratulations to Blue Thumb volunteers Brooke Selby (Harrah) and Makenna Paniel (Stillwater). Their timely texts resulted in their victory to win a reusable bag from Friends of Blue Thumb! Carrying in your own bag to the grocery store is an easy way to do something positive for the earth.
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
I am VERY over the moon to hear a lot of likes about the new online data entry!!!!! If you have any questions, comments, concerns about this new data entry App/link please feel free to contact me.
I would like to tell everyone that enters data on this App to please, please take your time when you do so. I am running into several occurrences when I must contact the volunteer to ask them what range of test they actually performed because I was questioning what I was seeing online. Yes, the App/link is very streamlined and quick and easy, BUT, I really ask you to please take your time when entering your data. Make sure you are clicking on the appropriate test range for what you performed. You can even double check this by looking at the calculated answer (mg/L) after you enter in your drop/wheel reading. I think I have noticed this mess up amongst all the tests, not just one specific test. So, I think if you all will please just take your time, double check your final calculated answers, slot out some time that you can focus on this data entry; this will clean up these mistakes.
Check out the App Map! It is VERY cool to see more and more data points popping up across the map! And thanks for posting your photos. Personally, I love seeing them, but this also adds a visual for anyone that is looking at the data numbers.
I thank all you volunteers for what you do for our Blue Thumb program. Thank you for monitoring and turning in your results. Your data is filling in gaps for the state’s surface water monitoring.
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
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