Poster Details
A UNIVERSITY-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP MODEL TO IMPROVE REGIONAL WATER QUALITY IN LAKE MICHIGAN WATERSHEDS
The waters that flow into the Great Lakes cover an extensive, varied landscape, from forested areas to agricultural land, cities, and suburbs. Land uses impact the water quality of local tributaries, ultimately affecting Lake Michigan. In order to assess these impacts, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus and Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership have established a robust collaboration which facilitates systematic, long-term data collection on water quality, community outreach, and watershed education. This poster presents the details of our collaboration which meets many of the criteria of translational ecology.
Student interns, mentored by faculty, are responsible for data collection and analysis, coordination with community volunteers, communication of results to the public, and mentoring of high school students.. As students benefit from community engagement and hands-on research, their work creates opportunities for increased citizen awareness of local watershed issues, and provides data for evidence-supported decision-making.
One long-term goal of this project is to establish EPA’s 9-Element Watershed Plans for each watershed. Planning is designed to engage landowners as partners with the local agricultural community. This partnership will also play a role in helping structure an emerging TMDL for Lakeshore region watersheds.
Richard Hein (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus, heinr@uwgb.edu;
Rebecca Abler (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus, ablerr@uwgb.edu;