Introduction to Level 3
Special projects are those within the Strategy that do not fit into generalized status and trends monitoring. The Network (including the Department of Natural Resources or partners such at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, River Alliance of Wisconsin, etc.) may have special projects that will be defined annually. These will have a variety of focuses. Thus, the type of citizen involvement will vary widely in this level of monitoring. The following describes level 3 monitoring for the Citizen-based Water Monitoring Network Proposal. A table follows to outline the information provided in the text.
1. Network-sponsored Projects
Network projects are those which are defined by sponsoring agencies/groups of the Citizen-based Water Monitoring Network. These may be Department of Natural Resources-led projects or projects led by sponsoring partner agencies/groups.
Department of Natural Resources (Department)-defined Projects
Through the Department work planning process, Level 3 projects will be available for citizens to participate in on an annual basis. These will vary year to year. The Department will provide training to citizens to perform the defined monitoring. Data collected by citizens will be entered into a Department database.
Non-Department-defined Projects
Within the Network there may be other level 3 projects advertised for which citizens may participate. This is due to the fact that the Department works with partners to coordinate its citizen monitoring programs (i.e., University of Wisconsin-Extension, River Alliance of Wisconsin). These partner groups, in cooperation with the Department may at times have special research projects ongoing that are designed to help build the overall citizen monitoring program. For these projects, unless identified in specific research proposals, the Department will not provide citizens with training (though partner groups may do so) and data may or may not be entered into a Department database. (If data are entered into a Department database, methods followed to obtain data must be the same or equivalent to methods the Department uses. Results of the research projects may be used to augment available monitoring opportunities within the Citizen-based Water Monitoring Network.
Examples: Currently there are ongoing research projects to study various E. coli monitoring techniques for use by citizen monitors and to study the efficacy of using citizen monitors to identify macroinvertebrates to family level. These are both categorized as level 3 research projects, and are being conducted in cooperation with the Department, but not necessarily led by the Department.
2. Non-Network-sponsored Projects
The Department recognizes that there are other entities (e.g., University departments, rivers groups, etc.) that monitor surface waters in ways not identified in the Citizen-based Water Monitoring Network Proposal. These entities may desire their data to be entered into a Department database. This can be done provided these groups can document that methods used to collect the data are the same as or equivalent to methods the Department uses. Specific information about data use and storage follows:
• Available resources may limit what information can be stored in Department databases (i.e., the Department databases may not have ability to store data that are collected by partner groups as these are still under development and require resources to build).
• A Department team (or some form of that team) that has developed this Network proposal will be charged with determining if methods are acceptable for data to be entered to a Department database.
• The Department’s response to results of non-Department-initiated level 3 monitoring will be at the Department’s discretion.
More details about this level of monitoring can be found in the Network Plan.
Level 3 Projects:
Carpenter Creek Impaired Waters Monitoring
Discovery Farms Trained Local Samplers Program
Ephemeral Pond Monitoring Program with Riveredge Nature Center
Ephemeral Pond Monitoring in Southeastern Wisconsin
Independent Monitoring Projects with The Center for Watershed Science and Education
Macroinvertebrate Identification to Family level
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