Chicago:  June 22  (registration deadline is June 17)

Champaign:  August 7  (registration deadline is July 27)

Using On-line Data and Tools for Your Watershed

Locally-led watershed projects are vitally important to improving and maintaining the health of Illinois’ rivers, lakes, and streams.   The groups and/or agencies working in Illinois watersheds need to be able to identify water quality concerns and solutions, and communicate them in a meaningful way to decision makers.    This is an important aspect of building public support.  To address this need, Prairie Rivers Network, the Illinois Lake Management Association, the Illinois EPA, and the U.S. EPA are offering this workshop.

We are holding two identical workshops, one in Chicago on Monday, June 22 and the other in Champaign on Friday, August 7. 

Workshop Dates and Locations

The June 22nd Chicago workshop will be held at the U.S. EPA Region 5 office located at 77 W. Jackson Boulevard.  (http://www.epa.gov/region5/visitor/index.htm) 
 
The August 7th Champaign workshop will be held at Parkland College, 2400 W. Bradley Avenue. (http://www.parkland.edu/guide/highwaymap.html)

 

Workshop Goals

In this hands-on workshop, participants will pull together data and on-line tools and customize them to their watershed.  (If you are not currently part of a watershed, we will provide an example watershed for you to work on.)  You will leave the workshop with useful materials and contacts to apply to your watershed work.

 

 

Tentative Agenda

8:00-8:30 a.m.  Registration

8:30-9:00 a.m.  Purpose of Capacity Building Workshops and Speaker Introductions

9:00–9:20 a.m.  Workshop Introduction
As a part of a watershed organization focused on planning and implementation, you need to be able to clearly show the problem to generate support and to be able to make decisions.  We will review what information is needed to help guide a community’s efforts.

9:20–11:20 a.m.  Getting the Data and Tools On-line:

To show the problem, we will collect data and images to:

  • Create a map of impaired waters.
  • Present the data that shows the water is impaired.
  • Identify what the land use is.
  • Create images of this watershed.
  • Identify what the potential pollution sources are (point sources or non-point). 

We will be working with sources such as STORET, Google Earth, Inland Sensitivity Atlas, National Wetlands Inventory and more.

11:20–noon:  Pulling It Together

  • Learn how to pull together the various tools and data collected in the previous sessions into meaningful sets of information.
  • See examples of watershed data/information pulled together.
  • Learn how to prioritize projects, needs, and goals.

noon-1:00 p.m.  Lunch Break and Open Computer Labs

1:00-3:30 p.m.  Afternoon Session – Pick One: Technical Track  OR  Outreach Track

Technical Track

  • Practice putting data and maps into Excel-based tool for use.
  • Create informative maps/resources for your watershed group.
  • Input monitoring data and images of an area to create a customized water quality monitoring template.
  • Use data to calculate monitoring needs.

- OR -

Outreach Track

  • Spend some time on U.S. EPA’s Non-Point Source (NPS) outreach tool box (example of downloading audio and adding watershed group tag to it for radio time).
  • How to use data to create presentations/images to illustrate and convey the problem in your watershed, and how to take actions in a meaningful way. 

3:30-4:30 Wrap-Up Session – Instructors lead discussion with all Participants:

  • How to help protect your stream or lake.
  • How to use what you created for your watershed plans.
  • Future workshop schedule and topics.
  • Feedback from participants.
  • Online survey and workshop survey.

Registration and Cost 

Workshop space is limited, so please register early!  To register, e-mail Alison Meanor at ameanor@prairierivers.org  or phone her at (217) 344-2371.  Indicate which date/location you are interested in and whether you will attend the Technical Track or the Outreach Track. 

Further workshop details, including a finalized agenda, will be provided to registrants.  Pay your $15.00 workshop cost the day of the event, or make your check payable to Prairie Rivers Network and mail it to:

Prairie Rivers Network
ATTN:  Alison Meanor
1902 Fox Drive, Suite G
Champaign, IL 61820

This workshop is a part of our continuing efforts to build capacity in Illinois watersheds.  Funding is provided through an IEPA and U.S. EPA CWA 319 grant.

Updated post 6/10/09 – addition to title