Construction of Field Station On Task

The pillars are in place. Construction crews are working around the clock to ensure that the roof is completed before bad weather sets in. "The floors will be poured first, then the roof," states Dr. Dale Chapman, president of Lewis and Clark Community College and chairman of the board for the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. "We're talking about 30-35 thousand sq. ft. of concrete," continues Chapman,"the garage will be the last to be poured." The field station is on budget and on task to be completed by the fall of 2009. The building is now part of a tour-by-cell site of interest developed by NGRREC intern Jessica Harder of Alton, Illinois. The cell-tours include area sites of interest along the Mississippi for visitors of the Meeting of The Rivers Museum.

Plans are for the field station to be available for tours during the fall of 2009

NGRREC Welcomes New Staff

Isaac Chapman is a Project Coordinator for The Horinko Group, a consulting firm working closely with NGRREC.  Isaac graduated from Webster University with a degree in Media Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations.  Isaac brings his experience with web sites, strategic communication, and writing for the web to the NGRREC team.  Prior to joining The Horinko Group and NGRREC, Mr. Chapman worked in web site design and development, both independently as a consultant and as an assistant webmaster at Lewis and Clark Community College.

Marcia Lochmann joined NGRREC in November as Environmental Educator. Marcia brings over 10 years of combined work experience in environmental education, public outreach, and project management. She began her career as a high school science educator teaching biology and environmental science. After returning to school for her graduate degree, she worked with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program in South Texas managing projects that focused on bringing multiple stakeholders together to address water quality issues in the Corpus Christi Bay. Later she managed an environmental program for the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment called the Ecosystem Management Initiative, a program that promotes ecosystem management research, training and outreach.

Marcia is extremely excited to be joining NGRREC in this role and hopes to build on the solid foundation that has been established at NGRREC. Marcia has three children ages 12, 9, and 4 and is originally from Brentwood, TN.

Illinois RiverWatch Network
by Vera Bojic

Every summer between May 1st and June 30th, RiverWatch volunteers, also referred to as Citizen Scientists, gather their waders and monitoring supplies and head down to their adopted stream site to give it its annual "check-up." Volunteers record information on the surrounding habitat as well as the organisms living in the stream. Organisms such as dragonfly and mayfly nymphs, beetle larvae, snails, and scuds are collected and later identified by the volunteer in the laboratory. These organisms display varying tolerances to pollution and habitat changes and are important indicators of stream health.

An astounding 216 volunteers took part in this year's statewide data collection effort, surveying a total of 83 stream sites across Illinois. RiverWatch now houses 13 years of volunteer data that can be used to determine how the conditions of our state's streams are changing over time, whether water quality is improving or getting worse at a stream site, and to track the presence of four aquatic invasive species.

As our name implies, RiverWatch is a network of individuals, families, youth groups, schools, organizations, and watershed groups dedicated to protecting our waterways. Many volunteers monitor as part of a larger group or on behalf of their member organization. This year, 19 Illinois RiverWatch Network Groups contributed data, including Aqua Illinois, Citizens for Conservation, Embarras River Management Association, Environmentally Concerned Citizens, Indian Creek Watershed Project, Lake Forest Open Lands Association, Lake of the Hills Sanitary District, Lucky Green 4-H, Mazon River Stewardship Initiative, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Openlands, Original Kaskaskia Area Wilderness, Inc., Paw Paw High School, Sierra Club Piasa Palisades Group, Sylvan Lake Improvement Association, The Conservation Foundation, Triad High School, and Trout Unlimited.

RiverWatch would not be possible without the hard work of so many volunteers. Their commitment to collecting trend data and keeping a watchful eye on our streams is highly appreciated and valued. Equally impressive is the tremendous financial support we have received from The McKnight Foundation for program growth and expansion. Last year, their contribution of $50,000 to the program allowed us to offer numerous workshops, train 51 new volunteers, purchase training supplies and microscopes, and begin work on a comprehensive volunteer data management system.

I am pleased to announce that McKnight continues to be a loyal supporter of our stream monitoring effort and has awarded NGRREC a $40,000 challenge grant this year. The challenge, of course, is that we must raise an additional $10,000, which will fund the construction of the first online volunteer database. Many of our volunteers have graciously contributed over $2,300 already. Contributions are welcome and can be made by visiting http://www.ngrrec.org/donate_watch.htm. For more information on the database project, please contact Vera Bojic at 618-468-4870 or vbojic@lc.edu.

Even though the monitoring season has just ended and the waders have been put away for another year, we at RiverWatch are preparing for a busy spring. Workshops will be available throughout Illinois, March through May, to train many new Citizen Scientists. If you are interested in offering a RiverWatch training workshop at your facility or would like to receive a training schedule, please send an e-mail to vbogic@lc.edu. Additional information on the Illinois RiverWatch program is available at http://www.ngrrec.org/river_watch.htm

For more information contact us
National Great Rivers Research
and Education Center
5800 Godfrey Road, Godfrey, IL 62035
phone: 618- 468-4810
e-mail ngrrec@lc.edu