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Survey of Wisconsin Volunteer Monitoring Programs: Results and Recommendations

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Title: Survey of Wisconsin Volunteer Monitoring Programs: Results and Recommendations


1
Survey 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

2
Volunteer 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

3
Volunteer 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)

4
Survey 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

5
Environments 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
6
When Programs Established
7
Geographic Scale of Programs
8
Programs 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

9
Impact of these efforts
  • 8,027 volunteers
  • 1,436,833 hours per year
  • Represents a contribution exceeding 9.3 million
    per year!

10
Support 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)

11
Program Budgets and Staff
  • Average of 2 full time staff per program
  • Annual budget most often lt1000

12
Funding Sources
  • State 6
  • Federal 4
  • Donations 3
  • Foundations 2
  • Corporate 2
  • Dues 1
  • Other 2

Number of responses indicating as a source of
funding
13
Uses of Volunteer Monitoring Data
14
Who 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

15
Program Concerns
16
Program 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
17
Program 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
18
What 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.

19
Benefits 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
20
Benefits 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
21
Drawbacks 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
22
Recommendations
  • 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

23
Thinking 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

24
Task 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
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