Notes:
1)See List of Attendees at end of minutes
2)Powerpoint presentations will be available on the Council's website.
3)Attachments available by request.
OPENING AND WELCOME
Gail Mallard opened the meeting with round the table introductions. Deborah Patton welcomed the group to the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) offices including a little history of the building, which has hosted many dignitaries such as Governors and Presidents, as well as film personalities.
REDESIGN OF COUNCIL WEBSITE
Toni Johnson gave an update on the redesign of the Council website through an internet demo, which is not on the public site as yet. To access the intracouncil site use URL: http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/monitoring/test/ Charlie Peters indicated that some new features for the website are to include links to the National Conference sites. Toni distributed copies of the website pages for the work groups to use for updates or changes to the redesign of the website. The new colors will coordinate with the colors in the framework.
Linda Green suggested expanding the text on the purpose of the Council as well as some of the pictures that were used for the Council brochure, and indicated that the redesign of the web pages is a vast improvement. Discussions indicated that members would like to see:
Members were encouraged to have their organizations' websites link to the Council website. Permission is required to link to a site.
It is important that people, who have no history of the Council, review and critique the website to ensure that we are reaching the general public. Information on the Council's website should ensure that someone with no knowledge of the Council can learn what the Council's purpose and activities are by reading the website pages.
Paper #2: Gail and Chuck are working on the outline""Identifying objectives and purpose of the Council.
Paper #3 is Design-Tony Olson and Dale Robertson. Outline for the paper-the design cog is to define the design of the network. Charlie said there is a problem in keeping the paper to a size that would be acceptable for the article. Robert said not to worry at this point. Get everything down and Robert will deal with the editors.
Paper #4: Herb Brass gave an update on the article on "Collect Field and Lab Data." Franceska Wilde has written the first draft--Objectives of monitoring projects. The paper is already on the website of the Methods Board.
Paper #5: Data Management-Karen Klima and Ken Lanfear. Karen said there is an outline for the paper that is acceptable to share at this point. Karen will distribute outline for the paper. Objectives are to capture and preserve the data and make the data available. NWIS and STORET people have been meeting and will have new issues to be presented for this article.
3 C's: Linda Green and Abby Markowitz. This paper addresses the 3 C's around the monitoring framework (communication, coordination, and collaboration) and will follow the introductory paper. Linda reported that an outline and some initial text had been drafted.
July 1 is final date that papers are to go to AWRA editor. The March deadline will have been reviewed by Council members-some organizations will need to have review or approval by their organization before article is submitted to the AWRA editor. (March-June-internal member organization review and approval.). Now through March, papers are to receive collaborated review. March through May, Robert Ward and Charlie Peters will edit; papers will then receive agency reviews.
ASIWPCA MONITORING SURVEY.
Peter Tennant presented a
status report on the ASIWPCA Survey of State Monitoring Programs.
Responses to the survey have been received from 39 states and two
interstate commissions. The survey will provide a baseline of current
state monitoring capabilities and could serve as a guide for
identifying resource needs. A draft report on the results is in
preparation and should be available for review by the project steering
committee by the end of January. Copies of the data summaries from
the survey can be made available to Council members.
EPA SURVEY OF BIOLOGICAL MONITORING
Elizabeth Jackson,
EPA, gave presentation on Summary of Biological Assessment Programs
and biocriteria development for States, Tribes, Territories and
Interstate Commissions. Chuck Spooner discussed study team that also
met with the Maryland Monitoring Council at its Annual Meeting on
November 22, 2002.
MISSISSIPPI MONITORING, MODELING, AND RESEARCH WORKSHOP AND GULF
HYPOXIA
Peter Tennant reported on a workshop held by the
Monitoring, Modeling and Research (MMR) Work Group of the Mississippi
River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. The Task Force completed an
Action Plan for the control of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico in
January 2001. One of the actions set forth in the plan was to convene
the MMR Work Group to develop a framework for improved monitoring of
nutrients in the Mississippi River Basin. The work group identified
four levels of monitoring that are needed:
Level 1- monitoring of direct inputs to the Gulf (Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers)
Level 2- monitoring of nine major sub- basins (including the upper and lower Ohio)
Level 3- monitoring of 113 watersheds (8 digit HUCs)
Level 4- monitoring at the small watershed level to assess impacts of local controls.
The results of the workshop will be presented to the parent task force at its December 10 meeting.
PLENARY SESSION
WELCOME TO MEMBERS AND GUESTS
Gail Mallard welcomed members and guests.
WELCOME FROM INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL OF ARIZONA
John Lewis,
Director, ITCA, welcomed the group to Arizona. Arizona is the State
with the most Indian tribes in the Nation. Member Tribes are:
AK-CHIN Indian Community
Cocopah Tribe
Colorado River Indian Tribes
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
Fort Mojave Tribe
Gila River Indian Community
Havasupai Tribe
Hope Tribe
Hulapai Tribe
Kaibab-Paiute Tribe
Pascua Yaqui Tribe
Quechan Tribe
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
San Carlos Apache Tribe
Tohono O'Odham Nation
Tonto Apache Tribe
White Mountain Apache Tribe
Yavapai Apache Nation
Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe
The Navajo Nation is the largest tribe in the U.S. and active in the ITCA. As soverign nations, tribes work on a Government-to-Government relationship; not on a State-to-Tribal relationship. Twenty-seven percent of the State of Arizona land is Tribal owned.
TRIBAL ROUND TABLE
Introduction of Tribal Members
Deborah Patton presented an overview of ITCA activities after which she introduced the tribal members present as well as the speakers for the roundtable.
Verde River Restoration, Marilyn R. Ethelbah, Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. Ft. McDowell had an opportunity to write water quality standards through a grant from EPA as well as working with the USGS. The standards are going through review by the EPA. By the end of next year they should be fully approved. A priority for the nation is to support ground water investigations. Ft. McDowell is 23 miles northeast of the city of Phoenix. Verde River flows north-south through the Yavapai Nation (10 miles of river). Maps of the reservation was shown and a description about activities and lands preserved for cultural activities. Workshop on Restoration was held with other invited tribes; a goal of the nation is to build a cooperative community.
AK-CHIN Water Cycle - Water, Wastewater, and Reuse, Joni Ashton, AK-CHIN Indian Community, Environmental Protection Department, Public Works. Ak-Chin is located about 30 miles south of Phoenix. The AK-CHIN Indian Community is comprised of 20,000 acres; governed by five-member Council. Ak-Chin means place where the wash loses itself in the land or ground. Environmental programs are funded by EPA. Surface water-four perennial washes; Vekol, Smith,.Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa. AK-CHIN has a wastewater treatment plant developed in the summer of 1999. Reuse program will start in 2003 for irrigation and water for nonedible vegetation within the community; a million-gallon storage capacity. Environmental project removed approximately 250 salt cedar trees (the do not produce any valuable product but just consume much water); planted 93 cottonwood poles around pond and finger areas to reduce nitrate; reintroduce native species; increase habitat area. Much of the land is being used for agricultural purposes; it is a very flat and arid area.
Navajo Nation, Eric Rich.
Eric works for the Surface and Ground Water Protection Department with their water quality program. A primary concern of the Navajo Nation is for enforcing provisions of the Clean Water Act and monitoring and assessment of waters of the nation. They are in the process of finalizing sections 303 and 304 of the public clean water act. EPA has approved water quality standards after working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The threats to water quality are many--power plant emissions, building of roads, grazing, and invasive plant species. Watersheds are transformed through invasive plants and grazing. Monitoring of watersheds is done on basin rotation; 40 watersheds. The tribe is in the infancy of a data collection process. Indian Tribes are exempt from 305 reporting. They are trying to address water quality standards, chemistry, geomorphologic issues. The Navajo Nation is the largest Tribal nation-about the size of the State of West Virginia.
WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE TRIBE, Candy Lupe,
Water is one of the four main sacred elements to the tribe. The tribe is involved in stream, wetland, riparian assessment, and monitoring. They are involved with many restoration efforts. Development of homebuilding is creating non-point source pollution problems. There are no regulations currently for such activities such as zoning, etc. Educational outreach is conducted with annual ecological youth camp, field tours with tribal council; staff participation with reservation schools. Rodeo Chediski Fire Impacts-fire started on reservation; over 400,000 acres were burned. Three major watersheds were affected-this adds to workload. Flooding is now a major concern. Forest impacts-95,000 acres of timberlands and 61,000 acres of woodlands were destroyed. Real economic impact to the nation; barely keeping open the logging industry; recreational and cultural activities are impacted, sacred sites and archeological sites damaged. They have started fire recovery efforts-wetland and spring monitoring; erosion prevention measures; monitoring channel morphology and sediment monitoring stations; bank protection. They are working with Rocky Mountain Research Center for a research project. They were fortunate to get cost share waived. There is a problem with the feral horses. Horses are important to the Apache-They believe they should leave the horse alone. This is a very delicate social issue. Overgrazing presents a serious problem to the lands. In closing Candy wanted to impress on the Council the creed of the White Mountain Apache-"Their Mission on earth is to take care of the beautiful world around us-work from heart-When we look back we should see a beautiful garden where we have walked."
Yavapai Prescott Nation.
Lisa Terry from the Yavapai Prescott Nation presented an overview of the Nation. Yavapai Prescott Nation is located 2 hours north of Phoenix. It is almost entirely surrounded by the City of Prescott. The tribe is working with USGS, and the tribe has taken over water quality sampling. They are working on developing water quality standards. Wetland restoration was started about 6 years ago. They have restored 3900 acres; planted 6000 native trees, ash, desert willow, cottonwood. There is an 80 percent success rate with the planting.
INTRODUCTION--ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL WATER QUALITY MONITORING COUNCIL
Gail Mallard gave a brief overview of the Council. The Council consists of 35 members from State, Federal, Tribal and independent agencies. The Council was established in 1998 to provide a national forum to coordinate consistent and scientifically defensible methods and strategies for improving water quality monitoring. The proposed national monitoring framework is composed of six interdependent steps (or cogs) in the monitoring process. Woven through and among the cogs are the concepts of communication, coordination, and collaboration. Working within this framework will better allow us to understand our water resources. The framework ensures that we develop tools for monitoring. Some of the products of the national council are Water Quality Data Elements, State and Federal monitoring inventories; National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI). NEMI is an expanding online database of monitoring method summaries. Currently, it contains 600 chemical and microbiological monitoring methods from various sources (including EPA, USGS, and Standard Methods). Through various search choices, users can view summaries and compare methods. Some basic information about the methods can be found online at (www.nemi.gov). Gail announced the site of the National Monitoring Conference for 2004 and invited the Tribal representatives to attend this conference indicating that we hope to have a Tribal Workshop as part of the Conference. A demo of the Environmental Monitoring and Measurement Advisor (EMMA) was shown. EMMA helps users to consider, and answer, critical questions for environmental monitoring so that they will get the right data on time the first time with no unpleasant surprises at the end. A trial version of EMMA is available at the NEMI website. Gail discussed the meetings of the Council indicating that the Council meets approximately 3 times a year. The work groups were discussed and how they contribute to the framework. The Methods Board works on methods and standards such as NEMI and WQDE's. The Collaboration and Outreach Work Group focuses their work on the National Conferences and State Councils. Water Information Strategies Work Group is working on articles for September 2003 issue of IMPACT (AWRA) on Council activities and products. Watershed Components Interactions Work Group is working on organizing a workshop on interaction between watershed components for next National Conference and other issues of interaction between components of watersheds. It was emphasized that people could participate on work groups of the Council while not necessarily a member of the Council.
RESULTS OF NATIONAL MONITORING DAY
Linda Green gave a summary of the National Monitoring Day, October 18, 2002. This was a celebration of 30 years of success due to the Clean Water Act which was signed 30 years ago on October 18. National Monitoring Day was an opportunity to do some public relations so that the general public could understand and participate in a volunteer effort for monitoring. Registration was required prior to monitoring. There were 67 related USGS events; 36 covered by news media; 27 had dignitaries in attendance; governors, etc.; 47 positive responses from USGS District Chiefs. There were some concerns by lack of involvement by agencies other than EPA and USGS. Time of year was problematic, limited parameters, concerns with the kit, database difficulties, and concern about whether the data collected would be used. There will be a report summary written by EPA and USGS. There is a good possibility that this will be an annual event--a monitoring week rather than a monitoring day.
EPA REGION 9 ACTIVITIES
Chuck Spooner presented EPA
updates on TMDL Rule, Personnel Changes, and State Monitoring Program.
USGS OVERVIEW OF ARIZONA ACTIVITIES
Nick Melcher, USGS District Chief, Tucson, Arizona, gave overview of USGS activities in Arizona. Natural resource management is big issue; 92 percent of the population live in two counties (includes City of Phoenix, and City of Tucson.) Population growth has not diminished during economic slowdown. Water availability and distribution-There is a lot of litigation about who gets what water. The U.S./Mexico border is an issue in the state. The USGS is a large player in state having offices in Flagstaff, Tempe, Yuma, and Tucson. Major issues are water supply availability and sustainability; water quality, degradation and contamination; hydrologic hazards, and special interests. There are nongovernmental organizations and Tribal interests that have special concerns and for whom we provide technical advice. There is a large program in support of the National Park Service. A study is being done on the Glen Canyon; recreational activities in Lake Powell. One fasinating project is the water quality assessment of South Rim Springs, Grand Canyon. There is much growth in the Grand Canyon area. The NAWQA Study is a major program; it ran from 1995 through 1997; this study runs intensively for 3 years, and then ceases for a period of time, then runs another 3-year study on trends. The staff really enjoys working with Tribes for preservation of Tribal culture. The District Office had worked as a contractor for the Tribes, but now provides much more training and support.
PLANS FOR NATIONAL MONITORING CONFERENCE, 2004
Abby Markowitz gave an overview of costs estimates for Chattanooga and Cincinnatti in comparison to each other and to similar expenses for the 2002 conference in Madison. There is a big difference in cost of food, AV, etc. Abby discussed the facilities and space needed for the conference. Based on 430 attendees in Madison, we expect an attendance of approximately 600 for next conference. Based on what our needs are for 2004, Chattanooga came in somewhat higher. $225 registration fee at 400 people would give us $90K. We expect $137K from registration and vendors. Estimated hard costs would be about $147K. If we want conference to pay for itself, we would have to raise the cost of the registration fee. As an incentive for increased donations, special recognition could be given to such vendors. Additional funds would pay fees for students or others to attend. With economy at present, it might be better to estimate costs for attendance at 500 rather than 600. We need to check to see if there are any other major conferences scheduled for the week of May 17, 2004.
Don Dycus generally described layout of Chattanooga convention center and distributed draft outline of convention center. It is a very short walk from the TVA offices. Completion date for the construction of convention center is a year before our conference would take place. Don described the facilities available. The facilities are more than large enough for plenary, exhibits, and luncheon. Also one room would be used for registration and office. The Marriott also has complimentary meeting space based on the rooms blocked and used. We would have approximately 250 rooms available at the Marriott. There are also other hotels available and easily accessible by shuttle service that runs every 5 minutes from the convention center. Chattanooga has the only exhibit hall that has natural lighting. EPA Superfund cleaned up Chattanooga Creek; many environmental improvements. The week in Chattanooga would be May 17-21, 2004. Each of the work groups could start thinking about what their role would be for the conference (Abby distributed paper on ideas to develop 2004 structure for conference. (Attachment 1)
Abby is working on Conference Planning timeline based on previous conferences. Don Dycus, Chuck Spooner, and Peter Tennant are tri-chairs for 2004 National Conference. Each one of the major work groups should be represented. Charlie Peters encouraged other Council members to volunteer to work on planning committee. Planning Committee can also include people who are not Council members; may be volunteers or others who are work group members. We would like to have the conference be on a theme of the framework. Theme ideas are-- Putting Framework to Use; Applying the Framework, etc. Identifying the committees for conference needs to be done as quickly as possible to make the conference a success. We need to develop strategies for subcommittees such as funding, vendors, etc. Program content structure could be a subcommittee. Submission and review of abstracts could be done via email or online; abstracts would be tracked and controlled by conference staff.
Designate two members from each work group to work on conference planning committee. Involve more managers in the conference. What strategies should be developed to bring new groups in such as tribal and international issues. We need to be more innovative to get the word out so that people know about this conference. Think of topics that would attract a management group. Call for papers should be about 1 year in advance.
FOLLOWUP
Progress on Framework
Linda Green gave update on framework. Linda will take comments, suggestions, and finalize framework graphic. After agreement, we will use this version of the framework until after the 2004 National Conference.
TMDL Conference, November 2002
Toni Johnson gave update on TMDL. There is a third TMDL conference planned for 2003. The USGS had a special session to invite private sector people involved in TMDL to talk about the proper role for USGS in helping States without conflicting with the private sector. That issue is part of the recommendations made of the Cooperative Water Task Force. Papers for the 2002 conference are on the WEF website. URL is www.wef.org.
Membership - ACWI
Toni Johnson stated that ACWI is the parent committee for the Council. States are represented by many organizations such as ASIWIPCA. There are several organizations with recent changes. Sharon Thomas, is acting for WEF; National Association of Conservation Districts representative has retired; we will have new representative named. Diane Regas for EPA has moved into a new position and has not yet addressed who will be the official representative from EPA. There are five or six vacancies, and we will be working to fill those vacancies. We are trying to bring FEMA into ACWI; working with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to bring them on board again; trying to get Association of Metropolitan Managers onto ACWI. Charter for ACWI must be established every 2 years; membership is reestablished every 4 years. New process is that there is a White House liaison working with DOI to investigate the background of the individual representative. Our membership rests with the Association. That Association appoints a formal representative and alternate. They not only want to know about the organization but also the person who represents that organization. We have created a member profile for each organization on ACWI. For any new groups that we invite or petition for membership, we will have to complete a member profile. We are in the process of surveying hotels for contracting for the meeting site for ACWI. The dates planned are April 8-9, 2003. Toni indicated that we may want to have a session on homeland security based on the meeting attended this past fall-- American Water Resources Association Water Policy Dialog. A number of Federal agencies were involved. There were over 100 attendees at the meeting. The groups worked to come up with recommendations based on the questions from AWRA. Recommendations that water community need to advise the Administration on water resources and homeland security. Gerry Galloway, International Joint Commission, to ask ACWI to add their recommendations on water resources to the Administration. Issues were very broad-floods, droughts, better coordination, collaboration. ACWI website will link to AWRA on these recommendations when published.
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Expert Workshop
on Water Quality Monitoring
Charlie Peters distributed paper
on the workshop. (Attachment 2) Charlie was invited to this workshop
to talk about the Council. There are a number of things they are
doing that can help this Council. It is important that we stay
abreast with them in developing approaches and tools. They have a
coordinating committee and developed a national water quality index.
Their website is www.ccme.ca. Access that URL and continue to the
various initiatives and find the water coordinating committee.
Charlie distributed a packet for review; this also can be accessed on
their web page. Gail suggested that we might want to have a joint
meeting with this organization-- within a year might be good for both
of us. Charlie will pursue this; Linda and Jim were asked if they
could also pursue this with the water coordinating committee. CDC
interacts with environmental agencies in Mexico. There is not a good
flow of funds nor agreement of the Mexico Government to meet with the
United States on such issues. There are numerous meetings in Europe
on design of monitoring networks.
National Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Initiative
Chuck Spooner reported. There is a FY 2004 budget initiative proposed by the Office of Water, EPA, to OMB to improve Clean Water Act Programs. Monitoring is the first priority of the Office of Water and the budget initiative. If we only get $100, it goes to monitoring. It will help to give us an opportunity to supplement some kinds of monitoring programs--$1-2M for monitoring. The atmosphere for such initiatives is not good; track record is not good. It has a low probability in doing more than it has already done. One thing that we realize is that not much can be done without advancing other agencies cooperation. Inaction on current budget hampers budget planning. We have not pursued that as much as we intended because of budget cuts. We are looking for everyone's commitment to work together. Toni Johnson mentioned that we should have meetings with Federal representatives on Council and ACWI to talk about ways to support each others' conferences and water initiatives.
EPA STARMAP PROJECT--Joint Project of Colorado State
University and Oregon State University
Scott Urquhart gave presentation (Attachment 3) on selection of water quality monitoring site and Colorado State University's STARMAP. Research and not Office of Water fund this program.
EPA ACTION ON WATER QUALITY DATA ELEMENTS AND REPORT OF
BIOLOGICAL DATA ELEMENTS
See powerpoint presentation presented by Chuck Spooner.
DEMO OF EXPERT SYSTEM--ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND MEASUREMENT
ADVISORY (EMMA)
Charlie Peters gave internet demo of EMMA. See powerpoint presentation.
HOMELAND SECURITY: WATER SECURITY MONITORING METHODS/NEMI
Charlie Peters reported on homeland security and water
security monitoring methods. (See powerpoint presentation on
Council's website, URL http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/.)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF USGS/EPA COMMITTEE ON NWIS AND STORET Robert M. Hirsch, Associate Director for Water, USGS, and Chuck Sutfin, Director, Assessment and Watershed Protection Division,EPA
Bob Hirsch indicated his appreciation of the Council and that he recognizes the importance of the compatibility of STORET and NWIS. It is a very appropriate issue for the Council to look at the importance of sharing information through the two agency data bases. Bob distributed a draft document "USGS/EPA Agreement on the Management of Water Quality Data" that will soon be signed in final by both agencies on getting these data bases updated and working together. (Attachment 4)
The document outlines the joint position of both agencies. USGS and EPA will deliver data from NWIS and STORET to Federal, State, and Tribal organizations as well as to the general public and scientific community. An attempt to copy data is not the goal but to share data is the goal. Sharing of data is very important. We want to be sure that the greatest amount of information is available to do the job and to avoid duplication of efforts. Metadata lies at the heart of the issues that we are facing here. The WQDE's from the Council provides a structure and much detailed work to turn that into code describing what has to be done. Staff will begin developing code in a complicated effort. It cannot be done in a committee forum. We need the Council's subcommittee or work group to comment on the systems being developed. In order to do data sharing, it is recognized that there exists large amount of data in various data bases and that there is little metadata. There needs to be recognition that data without metadata may be useful for some purposes. The user of the systems can set their threshold for that information.
Our hope would be that by the time of the next Council meeting we might be able to give some timelines and get your feedback on what has been accomplished. Ken Lanfear, USGS, and President, AWRA, will begin working on what the full effort will look like so that both database systems will begin to be more compatible. Ken is very creative and might be able to develop a new system faster than expected. We want to work with the Council in the development of the new system.
Chuck Sutfin stated that EPA and USGS need to share common standards for the collection of data and making that data available to the public. We have agreed to reach a common understanding using the WQDE's as a standard. We should be able to design an internet inquiry tool and come to the user in a form that can be combined and used for assessment purposes. Both NWIS and STORET are going ahead with the next version of their systems. We have agreed that both agencies will be working together on the development on the new versions of their data systems. Each system is designed to meet the needs of the parent agency, recognizing that each agency does not know the needs of the other agency. There is much to accomplish success because there are a lot of agreements on standards. The appendix to the draft agreement shows a list of what needs to be done by both agencies in order to be compatible.
Comments and questions were taken. Bob King will be the EPA contact for development of compatibility of the data base. Concerns of the States were expressed by Karl Muessig. We need to have common data standards and collection of data said Chuck Sutfin. It may be that we still have two data systems because of the need of the two separate agencies but hopefully they will be compatible.
The new system being developed would have the ability to search for data in both systems and get the data to the user. The two existing big systems are coded differently and retrieving this information is a complex effort to be successful. How much time this will take to get a new system working and to be able to retrieve all the complex data that is stored in both systems is not known at this point.
STATE COUNCILS
Role of State Councils-Bob Hirsch said the existence of those state
councils to talk about monitoring opens up some doors. An enhanced
understanding of what is being done identifying duplicate efforts and
also identifying data projects is important. Extremely valuable
advice to USGS District Chiefs is to find a partner, one of the state
agencies, to get a council off the ground. Our District Chiefs in
Maryland and Colorado have been key players in making that happen. A
fundamental question for State Councils is "what can we do
together that we cannot do alone." It was suggested that a contact
be made to the Environmental Council of States (ECOS ) to inform and
obtain their support and perhaps jointly send a letter to State
environmental commissioners regarding state monitoring councils. For
several states, this action might be a critical step in getting state
monitoring councils established.
ACTION ITEMS:
TEXAS CONGRESS REPORT AND SUMMARY OF MARYLAND STATE COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING WILL BE AVAILABLE IN NEAR FUTURE. (MARY AMBROSE/ABBY MARKOWITZ)
COUNCIL TO PREPARE A DRAFT LETTER TO BE SIGNED BY BOB HIRSCH, TRACY MEHAN, OR SOMEONE AT NATIONAL LEVEL IN EPA INDICATING THAT OUR AGENCIES SUPPORT STATE COUNCILS. THE LETTER COULD BE DISTRIBUTED WIDELY TO USGS AND EPA OFFICES. ROBERT WARD NOTED THAT HE WOULD SEND IT TO ALL ON UNIVERSITY NETWORK AND WITHIN THE STATE OF COLORADO. (TONI JOHNSON)
BOB HIRSCH SUGGESTED THAT AN UPDATE BE GIVEN AT NEXT ACWI MEETING FOR STATE COUNCILS. (ACWI AGENDA-TONI JOHNSON)
COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING
WORK GROUP REPORTS
WATER INFORMATION STRATEGIES
Some titles for the
National 2004 Conference are: -Framework in Action"; "If you can't
measure it you can't manage it." Positioning the council to move
toward an expert system (similar to EMMA). This will be in revised
work plan. Discussion of data analysis and interpretation methods to
follow up with ASWIPCA inventory.
IMPACT papers are being prepared by lead authors. Need to examine linkage between the cogs; make the link between the cogs; new framework has arrows pointing both ways. Impact articles will explore more in depth. What is the input and output to each cog. Would it be appropriate for Robert and Charlie to ask for each author to address the critical issues to each cog. We will develop peer review lists for each cog. Council members were signing up for cog they can review. Names of reviewers to be added to each paper. Lead authors and final decisions-have those reviewers approve the paper, be willing to have your name listed as a collaborator- the more names that are added, the more impact this effort will have on common ways of reviewing monitoring. Important for Charlie and Robert to send something to the reviewers as to how to approach their review End of January would be a more appropriate time for reviewers to return their reviews. Lead authors would prepare a draft paper to be finished by end of December, send to collaborators for review by end of March, return to authors for further revision. Charlie will put latest version on website (the Methods Board password protected site). If there are particularly critical terms not being used correctly-note and use the term you prefer. Please send to Charlie or Robert as they create the glossary of monitoring.
METHODS BOARD
Charlie Peters reported. MB developed
2-year strategic plans for work groups; approach is to use framework
structure; develop products in short term and plan for the long term;
end point being the conference. NEMI had its public release in
October; over 18,000 visits to NEMI website; work with ACWI to get
member organizations to submit methods to NEMI
www.nemi.gov;
continuing to work on maintenance of website; also trying to get new
chemical microbiological methods; focus on getting newer and improved
methods in there; beginning to develop business rules; funding for
water security methods; focus on getting last EMMI (old EPA methods
database) methods into NEMI; hoping to integrate expert system EMMA
into NEMI. Started talking about moving into other media; priority is
water; that must come with funds from other organizations for those
media. Cliff Annis, Jr., is chair of PBS work group.
Accomplishments: Reached consensus on conception and definition, paper
published; developed and conducted pilot study. In process of
developing two other pilot tests. Developing guidance. Expanding
coordination with other organizations in implementing PBS. Two-Year
Strategic Plan and Outreach for MDCB. WQDE's work group chaired by
Chuck Job. Ed Santoro is chair of Nutrient work group.
Katherine Alben is chair of New Technologies work group. Dennis
McChesney is chair of Outreach work group. Developed draft
newsletter-plan to have two a year. Would like to hear comments on
that newsletter.
COLLABORATION AND OUTREACH
Jim Laine reported for the
C&O Work Group. Group needs to meet at times other than at Council
meetings. We are looking at having the full group meet at next
Council meeting. Group emphasized that representatives should make
contact with constituents in their region to make them know more about
the Council. The group talked about the web site redesign and will
get back to Council for comments. (Toni Johnson to make changes.)
Communications with States and other Councils; speakers bureau
established. If there is a meeting going on in your area, go to the
website, pull out a ready-made presentation or use on a basis to build
another one, prepare an updated poster. Hopefully, we will have all
the presentations that have been made to the Council. Send updates to
the brochure to Toni Johnson. Toni will see that brochure is updated
when all edits have been received.
ACTION ITEM: SHOULD HAVE THE BROCHURE UPDATES COMPLETED, AND BROCHURE SHOULD BE READY TO PRINT BY FEBRUARY 1. WE WILL DO BUSINESS CARD FOR COUNCIL WITH NEMI AND OTHER WEBSITES OF COUNCIL; EMAIL ADDRESSES; GET TO TONI BY FIRST OF JANUARY. JIM LAINE COULD HAVE HIS OFFICE PRINT CARDS. (TONI JOHNSON)
We will have Council's banner and logo online so all members can access them. Please email dates of upcoming meetings to Judy. We will update list of Council contact (Others List). If you have names, addresses, email addresses, etc. to go on this list, please send to Judy.
ACTION ITEM: OTHERS LIST WILL BE SENT TO ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS TO UPDATE, EDIT, AND DELETE AS APPROPRIATE. DONE
Newsletter for Council would be good idea. In talking about conference, we are looking at Chattanooga, May 16- 20, 2004; chairs are Don Dycus, Chuck Spooner, and Peter Tennant. Discussed role for C&O. What should we do instead of spending all our time on national conference activites? Some suggestions were to develop tools for outreach and develop conference for that activity& look for examples of success--Council should highlight itself as an example of success. Activities of Council that could not be accomplished by USGS or EPA alone. The group discussed selection of specific committees for the Conference Planning Committee, such as scholarship, vendors, program and agenda. Each takes a lot of work; review of abstracts; local hosts including Don Dycus&$ workshops on the cogs themselves. Suggestions/ideas for sessions: Monitoring for Public Awareness--What can we do together that we cannot do alone& build a stakeholder group& capacity building; consensus makes sense; institutional acceptance of volunteer monitoring& public outreach and building relationships between community and a group; community culture and values; monitoring at the ground water and surface water interface; new technologies& 10 tops reasons for monitoring& good data gone bad& models for dummies. Quick list of groups to target for the conference are volunteers, tribes, managers, local governments& industry& academics& recipients of watershed grants& state and regional councils. Discussed changes to Framework graphic.
WATERSHED COMPONENTS INTERACTIONS
Jeff Loser reported for WCI Workgroup. 1) Mary Ambrose has agreed to chair
the Ground Water/Surface Water Interactions Workshop. The workshop is
suggested for the 2004 National Conference. 2) The WCI Workgroup understands
that EPA has established a National Wetlands Monitoring Workgroup and WCI
will be contacting that group to discuss what the EPA workgroup is about,
its activities, and opportunities for communication and collaboration with
the Council. 3) The workgroup recommends that the importance of watersheds
interactions should be highlighted in the papers being prepared for the
IMPACT issue and Jeff will work with Robert and Charlie on this. 4) WCI
provided a recommendation to the Collaboration and Outreach Workgroup
regarding wording in the center cog. 5) Significant progress was made in
revising the workgroup's action plan with a greater emphasis on products
that can be delivered. 6) The workgroup suggests that the Purpose Statement
for the WCI Workgroup that was used at the 2002 National Conference be
incorporated into the new Council brochure.
ACTION ITEM:
JEFF WILL SEND TONI JOHNSON REVISED PURPOSE FOR
WORK GROUP THAT WOULD SATISFY THE NEED TO UPDATE THE COUNCIL BROCHURE.
DONE. The purpose statement for the WCI Work Group is: "Provide a
national forum to advance the integration of ground and surface water
monitoring to more fully understand the connected nature of these
watershed components and their combined impact on the ecological
integrity of the hydrologic system."
ACTION ITEMS:
ABBY MARKOWITZ HAS DRAFT OF SUGGESTED
SUBCOMMITTEES FOR CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE.
SUGGESTED SUBCOMMITTEES ARE:
PUBLICITY
PROGRAM/AGENDA
VENDORS/SPONSORS
LOCAL PROGRAMMING
DON DYCUS TO PROVIDE COPY OF SIGN UP LIST FOR VOLUNTEERS TO
CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE TO JUDY. DONE
VOLUNTEERS FOR CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE:
LINDA GREEN
JIM LAINE
GAIL MALLARD
JEFF SCHLOSS
DEBORAH PATTON
CHARLIE PETERS
JEFF LOSER
GEOFFREY EKECHUKWU
KARL MUESSIG
TRI-CHAIRS:
CHUCK SPOONER
DON DYCUS
PETER TENNANT
PLANS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS
Dates agreed for future Council meetings are:
| Spring Meeting: | May 13-16, 2003 Chattanooga, Tennessee TVA Offices |
| Summer Meeting: | August 19-22, 2003 East Coast Site to be selected |
| Judith B. Griffin Executive Secretary |
Attendees:
Chuck Spooner
Gail Mallard
Greg Gross
Linda Green
David Denig-Chakroff
Chris Knopp
Jeff Loser
Bill Backous
Hal Stanford
Mary Ambrose
Karl Muessig
Peter Tennant
Deborah Patton
Toni Johnson
Judy Griffin
Jim Cox
Robert Ward
Alfred Korndoerfer
Jon van Soestbergen
Charlie Peters
Jim Laine
Geoffrey Ekechukwu
Jeff Schloss
Guests:
Charles Enos, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Steven Olfers, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Beth Jackson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Abby Markowitz, Tetratech
John Klein, U.S. Geological Survey
Jack Dutra, Mid-America Croplife Association
Karen Klima, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lino Valles, Ak-Chin Indian Community
Patrick Trusty, Ak-Chin Indian Community
Kendra Tso, Ak-Chin Indian Community
Lisa Terry, Yavapai Prescott Nation
Duncan Fisher, Colorado River Indian Tribes
Nick Melcher, U.S. Geological Survey
Marilyn Ethelbak, Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation
Joni Ashton, Ak-Chin Indian Community
John Lewis, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Crystal Wyaco-Little, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Scott Urquhart, Colorado State University
Robert Hirsch, U.S. Geological Survey
Chuck Sutfin, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
George Little, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.
Eric Rich, Navajo Nation
Gayl Honanie, Hopi Tribe
Jean McDowell, Ground Water Protection Council
Attachments:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological
Survey
This page is maintained by NWQMC Webmaster
Privacy statement || Disclaimer
http://acwi.gov/monitoring/minutes/az_120902.html
Wednesday, 08-Aug-2007 15:06:59 EDT