Sl 2007 1st Quarter Report

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Kansas Department of Health and Environment Grant Quarterly Status Report Submitted Project Information

Report Date

04/2007

Reporting Period

Project Name

Kansas StreamLink Watershed Stewards Part 2

KDHE Project #

2005-0084

Project Start

11/2006

Project End

Feb - Apr 2007

12/2008

Project Management

1. Did the Project Management Team meet during this quarter? Yes 1a. When did they Meet? 01/05/2007 Enter date mm/dd/yyyy 1b. How many attended? 4 1c. How long did the meeting last? 3 2. Summarize any significant project management issues from the quarter?

> The KVHA Board of Directors has primary oversight of the StreamLink program. Our last board meeting was January 5, 2007. Our next meeting will be scheduled between May and June of 2007. Budgeting and staffing was the primary focus of the meeting. Funding constraints have meant eliminating all paid intern positions. Christine Boller has made a solid transition into the role of StreamLink Program Director. (Travis Daneke took a more lucrative position with KDHE last December; Christine has been a Project Assistant at KVHA since the fall of 2005.) Alison Reber continues to be involved with grant administration and program development. Over the last few years we've invested a significant amount of time strengthening our volunteer pool.

We now have about 10 consistent volunteers helping with events, partner and program development. >The planning committee for the Basic Stream Assessment Workshops met in April. The workshops are scheduled to be held in Wichita (June 21st & 22nd) and Marysville (July 25th & 26th) - both within WRAPS areas. The City of Wichita is partnering with us to provide the workshop location and support from Vaughn Weaver, the city's aquatic biologist. The Marshall County Conservation District is providing assistance with planning and organizing the July event. Additional input for the Marysville training is coming from the Konza Chapter of the OregonCalifornia Trails Association. smile >The planning committee for the Wakarusa Wetlands Program met several times during this quarter. In collaboration with KVHA and the Kansas Biological Survey, the Jayhawk Audubon Society (JAS) obtained a $4,000 grant from the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Education Fund. The grant helps cover the costs of providing upper elementary classroom facilitated field trips at Baker Wetlands. A portion of the grant is for preparing and mentoring interns to assist with events. The field trip series is part of a broader concept to increase the publics understanding of wetland function, restoration, and creation. smile >A planning committee has formed for developing a digital walking tour of a watershed using Hidden Valley Camp for Girl Scouts. Several preliminary meetings have been held and photo shoots were done during the early spring. K-State Forestry is providing technical support for riparian zone content; the City of Lawrence is providing technical support for stormwater impact content. The tour focuses on different plant communities in a watershed including native grasses, woodlands, and wetlands. Upstream landuse impacts on the evolution of stream morphology and habitat restoration will also be part of the tour. >A planning meeting for future collaborations was held with the University of Kansas' Environmental Studies & Geography Departments Chair, Dr. Bill Wood, Haskell University Sequoah GIS Lab Manager, John Koestlenick, Kansas Biological Survey Aquatic Ecologist, Paul Liechti, Education Technology Doctoral Candidate, Dana Atwood-Blaine, and Information Systems Specialist, Bob Burkhart. Discussion centered on potential watershed mapping and other hands-on information gathering learning projects.

I&E

1. What Number of Notification Tools were used this quarter? 20 Notification Tool Brochures/pamphlets E-mail Conference E-mail List Serve News Story

When Used (mm/dd/yyyy) 02/20/2007 03/03/2007 03/15/2007 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 02/20/2007

Sign One-on-one Contact Exhibit Exhibit Sign Exhibit Exhibit Brochures/pamphlets Poster Exhibit Exhibit Brochures/pamphlets Newsletter Newsletter

02/23/2007 03/30/2007 04/17/2007 04/21/2007 04/07/2007 04/11/2007 04/13/2007 04/17/2007 04/17/2007 04/20/2007 04/21/2007 04/21/2007 04/21/2007 03/15/2007

# Contacted 5 15 15 350 70 10 10 100 600 10 150 100 25 50 100 600 75 20 150

2. How many Educational Materials were Produced this quarter? 12 Educational Material Poster Newsletter Exhibit Display Exhibit Display Exhibit Display Exhibit Display Exhibit Display Poster Poster Web Site

# Produced 10 15 1 1 1 1 1 10 25 2

# Distributed 10 15 1 1 1 1 1 10 25 500

Date Distributed (mm/dd/yyyy) 02/23/2007 03/03/2007 04/11/2007 04/13/2007 04/17/2007 04/20/2007 04/20/2007 04/07/2007 03/30/2007 03/15/2007

Web Site Web Site

4 3

650 3561

03/15/2007 03/15/2007

3. How many Educational Events took place this quarter? 18 Educational Event Water Sampling Water Sampling Water Sampling Tour/Field Day Focus Group Press Release Water Festival Focus Group Focus Group Workshop Conference Water Sampling Water Sampling Workshop Water Festival

Event Date (mm/dd/yyyy) 02/01/2007 02/08/2007 02/22/2008 02/21/2007 02/06/2007 02/20/2007 04/13/2007 02/23/2007 03/02/2007 03/03/2007 03/15/2007 03/08/2007 03/29/2007 04/07/2007 04/11/2007

# Attendees 2 2 2 2 4 2 100 4 4 15 200 2 2 6 150

2. Summarize the I/E activities from the quarter

>In January StreamLink began working with a student intern from Haskell Indian Nations University. Jason Koontz is a Senior in the Ecology Program. He will be field testing the volunteer stormwater monitoring protocols we've been developing in collaboration with the City of Lawrence. Mr. Koontz will be monitoring stormwater runoff coming off of a major through-fare, water exiting a newly created stormwater detention wetland, and water exiting an established wetland. He has been accumulating his data and submitting it to StreamLink and the City of Lawrence regularly. Mr. Koontz also represented StreamLink at the Water and the Future of Kansas Conference in March. >StreamLink has established a relationship with the Kansas Trails Council. KTC works on a variety of trail systems statewide. KTC, along with the Corps of Engineers, the John Dewey Learning Academy, the Lawrence Dog Park Community, and the City of Lawrence Parks and Rec, have partnered with us on several projects in the Clinton Lake area. We anticipate completing a half-mile stretch of trail at the Coon Creek area. The trail

will help facilitate continued community involvement with the Coon Creek wetland restoration. Additional streambank tree plantings are planned. (*A photo storyboard of the Coon Creek restoration project has been created and archived online at Bubbleshare.com. Several hundred people have viewed the presentation. *We have met several times with a KSU graduate student working on an auto tour of the Wakarusa watershed. Our hope is to have the area included as a stop in the tour. Access to the site highlights the breadth of ecosystems from bluff to bluff of a stream channel. Additionally visitors will be able to watch the wetland go through the stages of restoration.) A second trail-building project is underway along a stretch of the Wakarusa River east of Clinton Lake. This area is heavily used by a variety of interests including fishermen, picnickers, whitewater rafters, and dog owners. Over time surge waters have undercut portions of the riverbank and amplified tensions as dog owners either chose the precarious highroad or the river. The latter puts the dogs at risk for fishhook injury, aggravates fishermen and picnickers. The alternate trails will also help prevent further riverbank damage by safely diverting stormwaters. We are very excited and encouraged by the grassroots cooperation these diverse groups have demonstrated in order to alleviate tensions among river users. >We continue to recruit volunteer interns through the University of Kansas, the Roger Hill Volunteer Center, and the general public. In February we held an open house for volunteers to meet each other, talk about the KVHA/SL projects they're involved with, and plan out how to coordinate endeavors. E-bulletins have been going out and several different web applications for group planning have been trialed. Knowledge management has been one of our biggest challenges with having a sustainable volunteer program. Volunteers will be able to conduct record searches and sorts, add and update contact information, and collaborate on event management. SalesForce donated a 10-user license for the non-profit version of their web-based customer relationship management application. Unfortunately we were not able to roll our (highly-customized) database into SalesForce without significant preparation and programming. When the system was introduced to volunteers for fresh data entry, it turned out to require more training than was feasible. We are now trialling a beta-version web-based relational database application called Zoho Creator. It is similar to Microsoft Access but can be simultaneously accessed remotely and does not require specific software. Although the layout and coding are a bit clunky, the whole

system is less complicated than Microsoft Access and real-time information can be embedded in websites. Programming for the custom fields has been fairly straightforward. Part of what volunteers have done this quarter is recruiting other volunteers to help with specific events. We'll reevaluate the usability of the interface design after the spring rush.

BMP Implementation

1. Enter Information for each BMP implemented this quarter

Cooperator

HUC 14

BMP

Qty

Unit

City of Lawrence

10270104

Recreation Trail/Walkway - 568

500

Linear Foot

10270104

Erosion Control Blanket - 011

10

Acre

10270104

Streambank and Shoreline Protection - 580

10

Acre

Hidden Valley Camp for Girl Scouts Hidden Valley Camp for Girl Scouts John Dewey Learning Academy

10270104010070 Recreation Trail/Walkway - 568 Streambank and Shoreline Protection - 580

500 100

Linear Foot Linear Foot

Kansas StreamLink

10270104010070

Kansas Trails Council

10270104010070 Recreation Area Improvement - 562 20

Acre

KVHA

10270104010070 Recreation Area Improvement - 562 20

Acre

2. Summarize BMP activities from this quarter

Hidden Vally Camp - buffer replacement; habitat restoration Kansas Trails Council - mountain bike trail development; prevents streambank damage in lands adjacent to Clinton Lake City of Lawrence - streambank trail enhancement for stormwater protection along Wakarusa River KVHA - post-burn cleanup Kansas StreamLink, et al - tree planting John Dewey Learning Academy, et al - trail development

Other

Head Impacted

Mudscapes will be conducted in targeted areas. Please specifiy these targeted areas and the approximate number of mudscape activities conducted in the grant period. Describe accomplishments to date

Mudscapes is just finishing a busy April, with many Earth Day celebrations. We were invited to take part in the following festivals; Franklin County (150 students), Hillsdale(100),Wabaunsee Co (not attended due to sickness)and Dickinson County (100 students). Normally, we would have attended more festivals, but had to turn down a few festivals due to staffing constraints and calendar conflicts. Thankfully, there have been volunteers to lend a hand. We are also prioritizing WRAPS areas for our Mudscapes events. Additionally, we are requesting funds (through StreamLink membership) to help curtail travel expenses. The popularity of Mudscapes among festival coordinators, teachers and students is high. Fortunately, most understand that it is a labor intensive activity that requires a lot of gas and extra hands to stage. *Additional events not listed: Water Festival, 4/20/07, 100 students, Water Festival, 600 attendees, and Stream Cleanup, 4/28/07, 100 attendees.

Please describe in detail how KVHA has addressed historical grant funding gaps. Describe accomplishments to date

Partner and program development continue to stengthen our ability to procur alternative grant funding. We are following up on leads with the National Park Service,the Kan-Ed Network, the Kansas Humanities Council, and other grantors. Donation and membership growth have been steady. Catfish Cookies was released in March and has been generating sales revenue.

A condition of this grant will be that affidavits and status reports will be submitted on a quarterly basis via the Kansas Clean Water System. Describe accomplishments to date

We believe that providing a more robust detailing of StreamLink planning and progress will clarify the activity level of KVHA staff members. In addition to providing information through this reporting system, we will be publishing our reports and archiving our activities

through web-based repositories such as Flickr, Scribd, and Slideshare. The information will be accessible through search engines as well as directly from the StreamLink website.