Title: Survey of Wisconsin Volunteer Monitoring Programs: Results and Recommendations
1Survey of Wisconsin Volunteer Monitoring
Programs Results and Recommendations
- Laura Felda-Marquardt
- Nancy Turyk
- Cory Counard MacNulty
- representing the Volunteer Monitoring Task Force
- Citizen-Based Monitoring Conference, August 2004
2Volunteer Monitoring Task Force
- Multidisciplinary/agency team initiated to
address volunteer monitoring issues in Wisconsin. - Established May 2004
- UW-Extension initiated effort
- Other Partners
- UWSP Center for Watershed Science and Education
- DNR
- Lakes Partnership
- Northland College
- UW-Madison
3Volunteer Monitoring Survey
- Recognized opportunity need for information
- Prepared survey to find
- Scope of volunteer monitoring efforts
- Shared concerns
- Opinions regarding a statewide network
- Survey
- Sent to 25 programs initially
- Later sent to 42 others who registered for
conference - 21 Responses (31)
4Survey Respondents
- Testing the Waters of the Sheboygan River
- Best Management Practices for Water Quality
- Wisconsin Rivers Educator Network
- North American Butterfly Association
- Adopt-A-Lake
- Duncan Creek Monitoring Project
- Water Quality Monitoring Project
- Wisconsin Checklist Project
- Volunteer Carnivore Tracking Program
- Clean Boats, Clean Waters
- LoonWatch Wisconsin Loon Population Survey
- LoonWatch Annual Lake Monitoring Program
- Annual Midwest Crane Count
- Groundwater Guardian
- Self-Help Lake Monitoring
- Groundwater Observation Network of Wisconsin
- Community Stewardship Program
- Minnesota Worm Watch
- Water Action Volunteers
5Environments Monitored
- Water-related
- Lakes/Ponds 9
- Rivers/Streams 9
- Watersheds 8
- Groundwater 3
- Birds 5
- Exotics 4
- Insects 3
- Native Plants 2
- Prairies 2
- Amphibians 1
number of programs with volunteers that monitor
this type of environment
6When Programs Established
7Geographic Scale of Programs
8Programs Volunteers
- Interested individuals (not related to a group)
12 - Teachers/Schools 11
- Conservation groups 10
- Agency staff 9
- Youth groups 7
- Civic groups (Rotarians, Trout Unlimited, etc.)
2 - Other 4
- Number of programs indicating volunteers in
category
9Impact of these efforts
- 8,027 volunteers
- 1,436,833 hours per year
- Represents a contribution exceeding 9.3 million
per year!
10Support Provided to Volunteers
- Most common responses
- Annual training for new volunteers (14)
- Program website (11)
- Data analysis and reporting (10)
- Staff consultation with volunteers (9)
11Program Budgets and Staff
- Average of 2 full time staff per program
- Annual budget most often lt1000
12Funding Sources
- State 6
- Federal 4
- Donations 3
- Foundations 2
- Corporate 2
- Dues 1
- Other 2
Number of responses indicating as a source of
funding
13Uses of Volunteer Monitoring Data
14Who uses volunteer monitoring data?
- Your Group 11
- State government 11
- Non-profit organizations 10
- K-12 public schools 9
- University scientists 9
- Local governments 7
- Federal government 5
- Others 4
- Number of programs responding
15Program Concerns
16Program Concerns
- Most common concerns
- Data quality (52)
- Stability quantity of funding (37)
- Use or acceptance of data (37)
- Loss of volunteer motivation (37)
- Lack of support staff (37)
Percent indicates the number responding quite or
a significant concern
17Program Concerns
- Other concerns
- Liability (55 somewhat concerned)
- Lack of equipment (45 somewhat concerned)
- Excessive number of volunteers (70 not a concern)
Percent indicates the number responding quite or
a significant concern
18What About a Statewide Network?
- Goal
- Work together to support and strengthen
volunteer monitoring in Wisconsin. - 80 of those responding think that a statewide
volunteer monitoring network is a good idea.
19Benefits of Network
- Most commonly identified benefits
- Data Management (63)
- Obtain grant/funding information (62)
- Technical Support (58)
Percent indicates the number responding quite or
a significant benefit
20Benefits of Network
- Split opinions
- Website (50)
- Organizational support (50)
- Volunteer recruitment (50)
- List-serve (50)
- Conferences (50)
- Equipment sharing (55)
Percent indicates the number responding not a
benefit or somewhat of a benefit
21Drawbacks of Network
- Most commonly noted significant drawbacks
- No funding to support the network (58)
- Additional time commitment for coordinators (42)
Percent indicates the number responding quite or
a significant drawback
22Recommendations
- Continue to explore the feasibility of a
state-wide volunteer monitoring network! - Identify possible functions, structure, and
pitfalls - Re-survey potential participants to obtain their
input - Rework function, structure, pitfalls based on
survey results - Identify which organizations will be involved in
hosting websites, housing databases, providing
support staff, etc. - Pursue necessary funding for support staff
23Thinking Towards the Future
- Obtain more input from existing programs
- paper copies of survey available today
- http//dnr.wi.gov/org/water/fhp/lakes/selfhelp/vol
team/survey.asp - Update list of existing volunteer monitoring
programs
24Task Force Members
- Nancy Turyk
- Jennifer Filbert
- Cory Counard MacNulty
- Steve Galarneau
- Kevin Masarik
- Laura Felda-Marquardt
- Laura Herman
- Shannon Fenner
- David Eagan
- Ken Schreiber
- Kris Stepenuck
- Jim Vennie
- Jeff Bode
- Carol Holden