Citizen Science and the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Water Quality Monitoring Program Peter Tango USGS @ CBPO Mid-Atlantic Volunteer Monitoring Conference August 7, 2015
Nick DiPasquale – Director Chesapeake Bay Program Words from Nick • Citizen Science is something that has been a priority for me since I took over as director 4 years ago. • Citizen monitoring (water quality, biological, etc.) is extremely important to extend our reach into areas of the watershed that we would never get to because of limited funds. • Citizen monitoring can be used to engage local communities and organizations in the watershed restoration effort as well as for educational purposes to enhance our environmental literacy and stewardship efforts. • Citizen Science can be used to identify problems or determine if our management measures are having their intended effect.
Nick DiPasquale – Director Chesapeake Bay Program Words from Nick • “On behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership, please extend my appreciation to all our Citizen Scientists for their efforts.”
Bay 101: Why Monitor at all? • Assess and Communicate Status and Change Effectively – Separate Fact from Fiction – Confront models with data • Support Adaptive Management – Target resources effectively – Gain new scientific understanding – Understand return on investments – Adjust monitoring
Chesapeake Bay Long term Water Quality Monitoring Program: 1984 - present. • Over 150 long term water quality monitoring stations provide coverage for the management segments
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Monitoring Network Approaching 120 long term monitoring stations. All provide nutrient and sediment concentration data A subset of the total are nutrient and sediment load monitoring stations
VA Water Quality Standards Support Ground truth Bay grass aerial photos Citizen Science is an established and important part of the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership monitoring efforts Dissolved Oxygen Standards Attainment Stream Health Indicator
Growing support to expand Citizen Science and Nontraditional Partnerships Key Management Event for Evolving and Growing Citizen Science in the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership was the 2007-09 Chesapeake Bay Program Monitoring Realignment Process 2007-2009.
Watershed Partners Senior Managers Said: “The (Clean Water Act Section 303(d)) delisting of the Bay, and determining the success of our management actions, are the responsibilities of the partnership, and should be the priorities of the monitoring program .”
2009 Monitoring Realignment and Synthesis Process Asked “How we can obtain more data?” Workshops and Meetings Weekly Conference Calls Focused Reports
2009 Monitoring Realignment and Synthesis Process Asked “How we can obtain more data?” Workshops and Meetings Weekly Conference Calls Citizen Science Focused Reports Opportunities Grow
Monitoring Realignment 2009 Partnering Workgroup findings: 100 120 20 40 60 80 0 295 monitoring programs AIR QUALITY BACTERIOLOGICAL identified in the watershed BENTHIC NUMBER OF MONITORING PROGRAMS BY SUBJECT AREA BIRDS and counting! CLIMATOLOGICAL FISHERIES GROUND WATER Monitoring Programs By Chesapeake Action Plan Goal Area METEOROLOGY 230 OBSERVING 220 SYSTEM 210 200 PHYTOPLANKTON Water Quality 190 180 POINT SOURCE 170 160 Habitats Number of Programs 150 RADIOLOGICAL 140 130 120 SAV 110 100 SHELLFISH 90 80 70 TOXICS-SEDIMENT 60 Fisheries 50 Watersheds TOXICS-TISSUE 40 30 20 TOXICS-WATER 10 0 EBFMP OYSTERS BLUE CRAB STRIPED BASS ALOSIDS MENHADEN FISH PASSAGE SAV WETLANDS STREAM RESTRATION POINT SOURCE AG &CAFOs STORMWATER SEPTIC SHORELINE SEDIMENT AIR ACID MINE TOXICS LAND PRESERVATION LAND CONVERSION PRE-HYDROLOGY WATER QUALITY WILDLIFE ZOOPLANKTON J. Johnson & K. Foreman CBP
Over 600 Watershed Organizations and counting! http://www.chesapeakebay.net/findabaygroup.aspx?menuitem=14797
Building Environmental Intelligence: Leading the future of water-quality monitoring Report 2015
Thank You
Break Out Session Let’s talk What to monitor?
Present discussions on directions for CBP Citizen Science monitoring support include 3 themes: • Further document the status of tidal waters in nearshore areas • Identify nutrient and sediment conditions in local watersheds • Verification of selected BMPs
Conceptual Model of Chesapeake Bay and watershed recovery Poor Good Health Health
Issue #1. Status of the Bay The Dead zone is in the Deep channel of the bay and lower tributaries. However, the history of fish kills shows the kills, often attributed to low dissolved oxygen, are in the shallow water and smaller tributaries. We have a dead zone, we need to monitor the killing zone. Maryland waters 1987-2001 fish kills MDE The real action, Offshore, deep water dead zone The nearshore, kill zone
Nearshore waters and tributaries have little monitoring Baby Dead Zones Mortality Moments
Actions: Enhancing Monitoring to Support Management Effectiveness Through Citizen Science Photo D. Muller. SRF South River Federation Increasing resolution Reducing uncertainty A Muller. USN
Issue #2. Status of the Watershed. Targeting resources at the source.
Report Recommendation: To quantify effects on nitrogen discharge, use low-frequency (e.g., quarterly) sampling of baseflow nitrate from many study watersheds selected to represent a wide range of levels of conservation practices. Compare neighboring watersheds within each physiographic province. ?
Using Monitoring Data To Measure Progress and Explain Change Foundation: Monitoring networks Tidal Network 24
Watershed to Estuary Recovery: Telling the Story, Explaining Change Response to Management Actions in Gunston Cove, Potomac River Point Source Estuary Nutrients Mgt Declining R. Chris Jones late 1970s over 30 yrs George Mason Univ. CHLA declines last 20 yrs Water Clarity shows improving trend last 15 yrs TP load declines SAV resurgence and continues… Bay recovery model: 2008 2000
Present discussions on directions for CBP Citizen Science monitoring support include 3 themes: • Further document the status of tidal waters in nearshore areas • Identify nutrient and sediment conditions in local watersheds • Verification of selected BMPs
Thank You
What to Monitor? It depends on your priorities and interests. • Theme : Status. Water quality • Reason: Support for planning (nutrients, sediments, toxics, efforts and targeting resources temperature, algae, dissolved oxygen), bugs, fish, birds, herps, bacteria, pH, conductivity, trash, etc. – Regulatory, Bay Agreement outcomes, model calibration and verification support, conservation planning, education and stewardship. • Reason: Explaining change and • Theme : Restoration tracking. understanding your return on Document and monitor the BMP itself investment. – riparian zone: plantings-growth-success, – stream fencing – dam removals – rain gardens
Bay Watershed Health Indicators Buchanan et al. 2010. Acknowledgements “An adhoc CBP workgroup created to guide development of the Chessie B-IBI consisted of benthic macroinvertebrate experts from the six states in the watershed (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware) as well as federal, academic, and River Basin Commission partners. The authors wish to give special thanks to the members of the adhoc workgroup for their diligence in providing technical guidance and feedback: A.J. Smith (NYDEC), Aimee Budd (VADEQ), Bill Richardson (US EPA Region 3), Brian Chalfant (PADEP), Charlie Poukish (MDE), Dan Boward (MD DNR), Ed Reilly (NYDEC), Ellen Dickey (DNREC), Greg Garman (VCU), Greg Pond (US EPA Region 3),Hassan Mirsajadi (DNREC), Jeff Bailey (WVDEP), Jen Hoffman (SRBC), John Wirts (WVDEP), Kevin McGonigal (SRBC), Maggie Passmore (US EPA Region 3), Mike Fritz (EPA-CBPO), Nita Sylvester (EPA-CBPO), Peter Tango (USGS-CBPO),Rick Hoffman (VADEQ), Rod Kime (PADEP), Ron Klauda (MD DNR), Scott Stranko (MD DNR), Tony Prochaska (MD DNR), and Wayne Davis (EPA). Other members of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Non -Tidal Water Quality Workgroup as well as the Indicator Workgroup provided input on final presentation of the results.” Furthering communication product development: Watershed-wide status and targeting maps
Illustrating and Communicating Results at Different Scales
Pittman Robertson Fund investments : >$2 billion since 1937. Return on investments : Habitat acquisition, habitat improvement and species saved from threatened or extinct status
Water Quality History: A Century of Dissolved Oxygen Resource Degradation and Recovery Around the Globe: Thames River, England Rhine River, Germany New York Harbor, NY USA Potomac River, MD USA
Status and Trends: Recovery takes time . 1964 Peregrine Falcon Extinct in the eastern U.S. 1997: 174 nesting pairs in eastern U.S.; 27 pairs in the Ches apeake Bay watershed 30 year recovery 40 year recovery
There are models about how we think that the Bay works… Illustration: IAN Ecocheck Conceptual Model: Rain> Runoff> (Nutrients + Sun + Temperature + Wind) > Algae Blooms > Algae die and sink>Poor Dissolved Oxygen Conditions
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