2012 Volunteer Stream Monitoring Award Winners
Five individuals and teams from across the state are being recognized for their contributions monitoring and improving the health of Wisconsin's streams.
The University of Wisconsin-Extension and the Department of Natural Resources present the Stream Monitoring Awards annually to recognize volunteers, employees and teachers for their commitment to monitoring, collecting data, raising awareness and sharing knowledge about Wisconsin streams.
The awards program aims to promote the awareness of and participation in volunteer stream monitoring work in Wisconsin, which has more than 42,000 miles of streams that flow year around..
Peers nominate awardees based on their capacity in the program. The five winners are: Paul Hayes of the Kickapoo Watershed in the adult volunteer category; Jim Engstrom and Jim Gennrich of Milwaukee Riverkeeper in the team category; volunteer coordinators Anne Miller of Rock County and Jayne Henderson of Kewaskum in the employee category; and Mari Grobschmidt and Kim Leinweber of The Prairie School in Racine in the teacher category.
Congratulations to this year's winners!
Monitoring Adult:
Paul Hayes
Paul Hayes' achievements, writes Sarah Grainger of the Valley Stewardship Network, have been a "life-long endeavor," but he is recognized particularly for his vast contributions as co-chair of the Valley Stewardship Network Board. A resident of Westby, Hayes' leadership and dedication to teaching and stewardship have made a difference in the context of many conservation issues. A board member writes that in addition to his work with the organization, Hayes' skills as a Master Teacher are especially effective in bringing science to life for students, "reflecting a particular ability to pique interest in the natural world for future generations."
Team:
Jim Gennrich and Jim Engstrom of Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Jim Engstrom of Cedarburg and Jim Gennrich of Thiensville will be presented with the team award for their work with Milwaukee Riverkeeper. While each has many individual accomplishments in water monitoring "the Jims" are recognized for their competency as a 'power-packed' team that has monitored five locations sites in the Milwaukee River Basin since 2008. Engstrom and Gennrich also participate in a road salt monitoring study, and a phosphorous monitoring project, and have recently volunteered to help with fish passage impediment survey work. Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn notes that Gennrich's expertise in macroinvertebrates and Engstrom's extensive experience in GPS/GIS are especially valuable assets to Milwaukee Riverkeeper.
Monitoring Employees:
Anne Miller and Jayne Henderson
Anne Miller, who works for the Rock County Land Conservation Department, is recognized for her eight years of work as the local volunteer stream monitoring coordinator in Rock County, in addition to her monitoring several locations. Suzanne Wade of UW-Extension in Jefferson County writes, "I could always count on Anne. She takes her role seriously and has often come up with creative and sound ways of working with her volunteers." Anne is also recognized for her contributions to the biennial Confluence event, for which she also developed methods to certify volunteers in monitoring dissolved oxygen levels and temperature.
Jayne Henderson is honored for her work in water monitoring since 2006. Henderson has monitored for the Wisconsin Ephemeral Pond Project and Water Action Volunteers Stream Monitoring Program and is the River Connections coordinator for Riveredge Nature Center in Newburg. River Connections is a joint project with the Urban Ecology Center which exposes inner-city students to the Milwaukee River. Mary Holleback, Adult Programs Coordinator at Riveredge Nature Center, writes that, "In all three of these capacities, Jayne has worked relentlessly to help students and the general public understand and appreciate the scarcity of Wisconsin's wetlands and importance of clean water."
Teacher/Classroom:
Mari Grobschmidt and Kim Leinweber of the Prairie School
Mari Grobschmidt and Kim Leinweber, third-grade teachers at The Prairie School, are awarded in the teacher category for incorporating water quality monitoring of a nearby stream into their curriculum. Their students were granted the opportunity to name the stream ("Prairie Stream") and the two teachers organized outings for students and families to monitor and identify the cause of the stream's poor health during the summer. Grobschmidt and Leinweber's work prompted the involvement of the community and students in other grades, and inspired other teachers to develop their own service-learning programs. The Prairie School's Sustainability Coordinator Jean Weaver explains that, "Being a multi-disciplinary, multi-grade level, hands-on place-based, service-learning project, it does everything the ideal project should do." Grobschmidt and Leinweber's project has increased students' and their families' awareness of water quality monitoring and protection in their community.