This Saturday, May 2nd, is the beginning of open water fishing season in Wisconsin. This means an increase in tourism that will provide a much needed boost to the economy, people having fun fishing, and the possibility of the spreading of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Fortunately, it is pretty easy to prevent the spread of AIS, even if they are nearly impossible to get rid of once a lake becomes infected. All that needs to be done is for anglers to check there boats for aquatic vegetation that might be hanging onto the propellers or other places on the boat and remove them before you leave a lake. While this is enough for most AIS, there is one type that requires a different prevention plan. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) is a deadly fish virus that can be transferred from lake to lake in the body of a fish. This means that if you use minnows for bait in one lake, using them again in another lake means that you might be infecting that entire lake with VHS.
Possibly the most important part of the fight against AIS is education. People will not bother to try and prevent the spread of invasive species if they don't know about them or don't know how they are spread. To help this problem, volunteers are being posted at certain lakes to hand out educational flyers and brochures, as well as to check boats for invasive species. With their and your help we can keep most of our lakes free from the invasion of exotic organisms trying to conquer our water system.
For more information about aquatic invasive species please visit these websites:
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/main.shtml
http://www.oar.noaa.gov/oceans/t_invasivespecies.html
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/vhs/
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Shallow Lakes Program
Wisconsin lakes have been unusually low water levels lately. Changing lake levels changes the ecosystem, and thus poses new problems for the area. These problems include water quality and wildlife habitat issues. Smaller, shallower lakes allow sunlight to penetrate deeper. This allows for plants to grow in areas that were formerly too deep for them to live. This changes the entire base of the food chain, so it affects the entire ecosystem. Sometimes this change can benefit the ecosystem, while sometimes the change is detrimental. Whatever it does, it means that human behavior has to change too in order to keep the lake healthy. To provide information and answer questions about what changes the low water levels cause, the Wisconsin Lakes Association and the Town of Washington are sponsoring a presentation: "Declining Lake Levels: Living Lightly on Less Water”. This program is being held on Saturday, May 2, 2009 from 9 to 11 A.M. in the Northland Pines High School auditorium in Eagle River. Speakers include Tim Asplund, Statewide Limnologist, WI-DNR Bureau of Watershed Management, Susan Knight, Assistant Faculty Associate, Center for Limnology, UW Madison and Buzz Sorge, Lake Management Planner, West Central Region.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Mere weeks after the first loon was sighted in the Madison area, an explosion of loons has taken place. Reports have come to LoonWatch of hundreds of loons on the lakes in the Madison area, with over 50 in Monona Bay alone, where loon numbers have remained unseasonably high since the beginning of the migration. And loons were not the only treat in Monona Bay recently. A flock of four white pelicans and a bald eagle were also spotted in the bay recently. Hopefully everyone will have such good luck bird watching this year!
Monday, March 23, 2009
First Loon Sighting
We have our first report of a loon sighting! At 9:30 A.M. on Friday March 20th, dedicated loon watcher Alan Schwoegler saw three loons on Lake Mendota in Madison Wisconsin. This is the earliest he has ever seen loons in all the years that he has been living on the shores of Lake Mendota. Normally he sees them arrive between March 23rd and 27th. Hopefully this means that loon numbers will be up this summer. I hope that you all have good luck in your birding for the migration this year!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Can volunteers deduct their time from their taxes?
No. But while your volunteers cannot take a tax deduction for the value of their time, be sure to inform them that out-of-pocket, documented expenses may be deductible on their individual tax returns. Volunteers may deduct the direct costs of operating their vehicles or the standard charitable mileage rate of 14 cents per mile as well as some other expenses. Volunteers should consult their tax advisor or refer to IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions.
What would our nonprofit sector look like without dedicated volunteers? Many community-based nonprofits would soon disappear in a vacuum of human capital. Don't let this force go unrecognized!
What would our nonprofit sector look like without dedicated volunteers? Many community-based nonprofits would soon disappear in a vacuum of human capital. Don't let this force go unrecognized!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Letter to Citizen Scientists
I am a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Environment and Resources program of the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies. I am also affiliated with the National Institute of Invasive Species Science (NIISS; www.niiss.org), an organization formed to develop cooperative approaches for invasive species science that meet the needs of land managers and the public. As part of my research, I'm working alongside staff from NIISS to develop a national citizen science program that focuses on the collection and integration of data on invasive species among local citizen science and environmental education programs. A website, www.citsci.org, has been created to facilitate with this effort. NIISS is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Rivers Alliance of Wisconsin to provide trainings that include an introduction to invasive species, invasive species monitoring protocols, global positioning systems (GPS), and use of the website for your data management needs. These trainings are free and NIISS staff will travel to your location to conduct these trainings.
As part of this program, we plan to conduct an experiment to test the ability of these trainings to provide citizen scientists with the knowledge and skills they need to monitor invasive species and to conduct scientific research independently. Therefore, we have planned a two-day event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum on May 30-31, to conduct this experiment. Rain dates have been scheduled for June 13-14. This event will be one of many to celebrate the Arboretum's 75th anniversary that looks at how a place like the Arboretum can integrate research, education, and restoration. The first day, May 30 (June 13), will include a full day of training. The training will include:
- An introduction to the scientific method and how the knowledge and skills learned in the training apply to that method.
- An introduction to invasive species including what they are, why they are a problem, and what personal actions can be taken to prevent their spread.
-An introduction to global positioning systems including what they are, how they work, and their applications.
-How to use global positioning systems to take a waypoint and to navigate.
-An introduction to sampling design and monitoring protocols.
-An introduction to the program's website (www.citsci.org) including joining a project, uploading data, and viewing uploaded data.
On the second day, May 31 (June14), citizen scientists will have the opportunity to test their skills alongside those of experts by performing tasks at a series of monitoring stations. The results of these studies will remain anonymous, but we will provide the participants and programs with final group results to see how the citizen science groups performed. Additional activities are being planned to make this an exciting and worthwhile weekend for all participants.
To ensure that this program is a success, I am writing to request your participation in volunteer recruitment. We are seeking 160 volunteers to participate in this event, so widespread advertisement is essential. Specifically, to be confident that the individuals participating in the experimental design are as representative of the citizen science population in Wisconsin as possible, we need to collect demographic information. In addition, we need to determine which volunteers might be interested in participating in the monitoring event described above. For this, we would like to have all volunteers fill out a very brief questionnaire. Your response to the questionnaire will inform us of your level of interest.
Volunteers can access the survey online at www.citsci.org. Click on “Wisconsin Citizen Science Questionnaire” at the bottom of the page. Please note that the questionnaire is completely voluntary and data obtained from it will only be used for the research described. Once individuals have been chosen for participation, links of demographic information to the individual will be deleted. An additional letter from the university will be provided to you the day of the event to ensure that appropriate measures are being taken to limit any risk to you as a participant. If there are any questions related to the event or this research, please direct them to me or the principal investigator, Don Waller.
If you have any questions or comments about this study, I would be happy to talk with you. My cell phone number is 970-227-3310, or you can write to me via email (crall@wisc.edu). Thank you very much for helping with this important research.
Sincerely,
Alycia W. Crall
Environment and Resources Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison
crall@wisc.edu
(970)227-3310
www.botany.wisc.edu/waller/peoplepages/Crall/Crallpage.html
--and--
Science Program Coordinator The National Institute of Invasive Species Science www.citsci.org mawaters@nrel.colostate.edu
As part of this program, we plan to conduct an experiment to test the ability of these trainings to provide citizen scientists with the knowledge and skills they need to monitor invasive species and to conduct scientific research independently. Therefore, we have planned a two-day event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum on May 30-31, to conduct this experiment. Rain dates have been scheduled for June 13-14. This event will be one of many to celebrate the Arboretum's 75th anniversary that looks at how a place like the Arboretum can integrate research, education, and restoration. The first day, May 30 (June 13), will include a full day of training. The training will include:
- An introduction to the scientific method and how the knowledge and skills learned in the training apply to that method.
- An introduction to invasive species including what they are, why they are a problem, and what personal actions can be taken to prevent their spread.
-An introduction to global positioning systems including what they are, how they work, and their applications.
-How to use global positioning systems to take a waypoint and to navigate.
-An introduction to sampling design and monitoring protocols.
-An introduction to the program's website (www.citsci.org) including joining a project, uploading data, and viewing uploaded data.
On the second day, May 31 (June14), citizen scientists will have the opportunity to test their skills alongside those of experts by performing tasks at a series of monitoring stations. The results of these studies will remain anonymous, but we will provide the participants and programs with final group results to see how the citizen science groups performed. Additional activities are being planned to make this an exciting and worthwhile weekend for all participants.
To ensure that this program is a success, I am writing to request your participation in volunteer recruitment. We are seeking 160 volunteers to participate in this event, so widespread advertisement is essential. Specifically, to be confident that the individuals participating in the experimental design are as representative of the citizen science population in Wisconsin as possible, we need to collect demographic information. In addition, we need to determine which volunteers might be interested in participating in the monitoring event described above. For this, we would like to have all volunteers fill out a very brief questionnaire. Your response to the questionnaire will inform us of your level of interest.
Volunteers can access the survey online at www.citsci.org. Click on “Wisconsin Citizen Science Questionnaire” at the bottom of the page. Please note that the questionnaire is completely voluntary and data obtained from it will only be used for the research described. Once individuals have been chosen for participation, links of demographic information to the individual will be deleted. An additional letter from the university will be provided to you the day of the event to ensure that appropriate measures are being taken to limit any risk to you as a participant. If there are any questions related to the event or this research, please direct them to me or the principal investigator, Don Waller.
If you have any questions or comments about this study, I would be happy to talk with you. My cell phone number is 970-227-3310, or you can write to me via email (crall@wisc.edu). Thank you very much for helping with this important research.
Sincerely,
Alycia W. Crall
Environment and Resources Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison
crall@wisc.edu
(970)227-3310
www.botany.wisc.edu/waller/peoplepages/Crall/Crallpage.html
--and--
Science Program Coordinator The National Institute of Invasive Species Science www.citsci.org mawaters@nrel.colostate.edu
Season of the Loon
Experience the life of a loon in a new exhibit at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, WI. Learn about how loons transition through the seasons of the year in this artistic, hands-on display. With the assistance of Loon Watch the Museum has been able to compliment its new exhibit, Season of the Loon, with several hands-on activities developed by Loon Watch. Migrate to the Museum sometime this coming spring to view original paintings of loons done by Wisconsin artist, Owen Gromme; see mounted loon specimens from the Museum's collections; watch a film about a loon's life; try out the "Loon Tune" machine, or help your grandchildren dress up as a loon in a life-like costume. Loon Watch has also loaned its "Get the Lead Out!" three-panel display to the Museum for its exhibit's duration. Be sure to stop by the Museum anytime from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday - Saturday before May 9th, 2009 to see this tribute to the loons. Free Admission.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
