Master Watershed Steward Program Monroe County Pennsylvania
January 8, 2018
Penn State Extension and the Monroe County Conservation District are excited to launch the Master Watershed Steward Program.
The Master Watershed Steward program is a collaborative effort between Penn State Extension, Monroe County Conservation District, and local conservation groups. It is similar to the Master Gardener program and is designed to train people in a formal way about the basics of water resource stewardship, creating an energized and educated group of citizens. Currently, the MWS program is in 13 counties across the state and has 194 volunteers that have contributed over 7,500 volunteer hours in 2017.
We are recruiting 20-25 interested people for the class of 2018. The class will consist of 40 hours of training on various topics, including water quality, stream health, groundwater, native plants, and recreational resources. Once this part of the training is complete, trainees perform 50 hours of volunteer service on selected projects such as:
– Organizing and executing stream cleanups.
– Designing and installing demonstration rain gardens.
– Assist in stream restorations.
– Organize educational workshops addressing topics such as rain barrels, pollution prevention, invasive plant control, and stormwater management.
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Applicants are welcome from all walks of life. If under 18, you must be accompanied by a guardian or adult. The program will start on Thursday, March 1, 2018, 6:00-8:30 pm and will continue every Thursday through May. There will be several Saturday field trips.
An informational session at 6:30 pm will be held on January18 at:
Monroe County Conservation District
8050 Running Valley Rd.
Stroudsburg, Pa.
If interested, please contact:
Jim Vogt
Phone: 570-421-6430
Email: jav45@psu.edu
Web: extension.psu.edu/programs/watershed-stewards/counties/monroe
Penn State Extension
Monroe County
724 Phillips Street, Suite 201
Stroudsburg, PA 18360
First Upper Delaware BioBlitz A Blast – Aquatic macroinvertebrates
Despite torrential rains that left some roadways in Northern Wayne County impassable on June 28, teams of scientists and volunteers managed to make their way to Starlight, PA on time to commence a 24-hour collection period to catalogue as many life forms as possible during the first Upper Delaware BioBlitz.
(Photo: Shane Flory, a member of the Monroe County 4H club, “Insects Are Us,” was in his glory after capturing a common green darner dragonfly during the first Upper Delaware BioBlitz.)
“The event was a huge success with 50 world-class scientists from throughout Pennsylvania and New York participating in the collection, identification and cataloguing of over 1,000 separate species of plants, animals and insects,” said event organizer, Steve Schwartz. “They were helped out by amateur naturalists including an entire 4H club from Monroe County on the insect team. Over 25 volunteers helped run the event and ensure it operated smoothly.”
On June 29, the public had the opportunity to visit the 64-acre property owned by the Norcross Wildlife Foundation and interact with the scientists as well as participate in various demonstrations and tours.
Teams of researchers focused on specific categories including aquatic macroinvertebrates, birds, botany, fish, fungi, reptiles and amphibians, invertebrates, mammals, mosses and lichens.
The primary goal of a BioBlitz is to compile a snapshot survey of the life on a particular property as an indicator of the biodiversity of the area.
Data collected during the event will be added to data collected through other efforts such as the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory database, the NPS survey of Flora in the Delaware River Corridor, the 1991 Natural Areas Inventory of Wayne County by The Nature Conservancy and other sources.
Other goals include raising public awareness, fostering scientific interests in children and providing opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary research.
“The Upper Delaware BioBlitz gave us a glimpse into the amazingly rich and vital variety of life found in this landscape,” explained Don Hamilton of the National Park Service Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, who served on the steering committee. “This diverse community of living things acts to efficiently enrich the soil, cycle nutrients, purify water, pollinate plants (including our crops) and create the very air we breathe—all ecosystem services that benefit and sustain us, which we could not easily re-engineer.”
Species were identified using a variety of collection protocols, ranging from actual capture to digital photography.
The Bird Team identified 55 different species, including a blue-gray gnatcatcher. An American black duck observed in the confluence of Shehawken Creek and the West Branch of the Delaware River is believed to have been blown in by the severe weather preceding the event. Click Here to read the team’s E-Bird report.
As for the future, it is hoped that the event will continue to be held in various areas in the Upper Delaware region. “There is much interest in making it an annual event,” says Schwartz. “Perhaps it would alternate years between New York and Pennsylvania.”
Visit the Upper Delaware BioBlitz webpage or the BioBlitz Facebook page for more information.
Volunteer
We seek new people at all skill levels for a variety of programs. One thing that everyone can do is attend meetings to share ideas on improving CCGG, enabling us to better understand and address the concerns of well owners.
Everything we do began with an idea.
We realize your time is precious and the world is hectic. CCGG’s volunteers do only what they’re comfortable with. It can be a little or a lot.
For more information, please go to CCGG’s About Page or contact us.
Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a 501(c)(3) IRS approved nonprofit, volunteer organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.