National Wetlands Research Center
Main Conference Room
700 Cajundome Boulevard
Lafayette, Louisiana
Note: Powerpoint presentations referenced in these minutes may be accessed on the Council’s website at http://acwi.gov/monitoring/ppt/lafayette_0307/. Attachments referenced in these notes are available in hard copy by request only.
ACTION ITEMS FOR JULY MEETING:
USGS/EPA TO INVITE TECHICAL PERSON TO MAKE PRESENTATION ON ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOR NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS (NAWQA PROGRAM).
LESLIE MCGEORGE WILL GIVE PRESENTATION ON NEW JERSEY PROGRAMS.
CANDIE WILDERMAN TO GIVE PRESENTATION ON USE OF VOLUNTEER INFORMATION.
Welcome
Gail Mallard and Chuck Spooner welcomed members and guests to the meeting with an around the room introduction of members and guests.
WELCOME FROM NATIONAL WETLANDS RESEARCH CENTER (NWRC):
Jack Waide, Branch Chief, NWRC, gave welcome address for the Director, Gregory Smith. Jack gave an overview (pp presentation #1) of the NWRC. The NWRC is a part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Biological Resources Discipline (USGS/BRD) which is one of the newest disciplines in the USGS. One of five BRD research centers. There are 17 centers located around the United States. Research is focused in three branches—spatial analysis, forest ecology, wetlands ecology branch. This center began as the coastal ecosystem team in 1975, in Stennis, MS. In 1992, it was moved to the University of Louisiana and then merged into the USGS in 1996. There are 200 people in the NWRC consisting of Federal employees, contractors, and students. The mission of the Center is to develop and disseminate scientific information needed for understanding the ecology and values of the Nation’s wetlands and for managing and restoring wetlands, coastal habitats, and associated plant and animal communities.
GULF OF MEXICO COASTAL WETLANDS PILOT SURVEY.
Virginia Engle, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave presentation (pp presentation #2) on The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Wetlands Pilot Survey—Planning for the National Wetlands Survey, the role of the EMAP Wetlands Team, and the National Wetland Monitoring Workgroup. Virginia reported on national surveys of Nation’s waters, national coastal assessment 2000-2006, Wadeable Streams Assessment 2004-2005. The survey schedule for 2007, lakes, 2008, rivers; 2009 streams; 2010 coastal; 2011 wetlands, 2012, lakes. Wetlands are the hardest surveys to tackle. Virginia asked that you send emails for any questions. This year’s lake’s survey asks questions of what percent of the nation’s lakes are in good, fair, and poor condition for key indicators of trophic state, ecological health, and recreation. What is the relative importance of key stressors such as nutrients and pathogens. These surveys will be conducted this summer.
HEALTH AND LONG-TERM STABILITY OF COASTAL WETLANDS.
Professor Michael Kearney, University of Maryland, Department of Geography, gave presentation on Health and Long-Term Stability of Coastal Wetlands. Dr. Kearney discussed Using Remote sensing technologies for targeting marshes for potential restoration and monitoring of post-restoration change.
SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH TIDAL FRESHWATER WETLANDS.
Danielle Kreeger, Partnership for Delaware Estuary, gave presentation on Science and Management Challenges Associated with Tidal Freshwater Wetlands: Examples from the Delaware Estuary. (See pp presentation #3)
RESTORING WATER QUALITY FUNCTIONS IN FORESTED WETLANDS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Stephen Faulkner, USGS/NWRC, gave presentation on Restoring Water Quality Functions in Forested Wetlands of the Lower Mississippi Valley. (See pp presentation #4)
PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL IN WETLANDS.
John White, Louisiana State University, gave presentation on Phosphorus Removal in Wetlands; the Potential for Release of Stored P. (See pp presentation #5)
STATUS OF PLANNING FOR SIXTH NATIONAL MONITORING CONFERENCE.
Eric Vowinkel discussed planning for Sixth National Monitoring Conference “Monitoring: Understanding Our Waters.” Eric distributed spreadsheet on Timeline for the 2008 conference. (Attachment 1) Title of conference was discussed and decided at the last Council meeting in West Palm Beach, FL. We are in the process of working with WEF in managing logistics for the conference. Final plans will be discussed at summer meeting in Philadelphia. Still in process of selecting conference layout. Eric discussed those sponsors who are on board including Federal, State, and University participants. Several groups interested in participating who will host field trips. (See pp presentation #6). Note: Since Lafayette meeting, plans and site for meeting have changed. 2008 NMC will be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, May 18-22, 2008.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON GROUND WATER.
William Cunningham gave presentation and update on Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW). See pp presentation #7. The SOGW was approved at the last ACWI meeting after being proposed at the National Monitoring Conference, May 2006. The overall goal of the SOGW is to develop and encourage implementation of a nationwide, long-term ground-water quantity and quality monitoring framework that would provide information necessary for the planning, management, and development of ground-water supplies to meet current and future water need, and ecosystem requirements. The subcommittee is divided into four work groups which are monitoring inventory, data standards and data management, field practices, and monitoring network.
UPDATE ON NATIONAL MONITORING NETWORK.
Gail Mallard gave update on National Monitoring Network (NMN) Pilot Studies. Gail distributed the announcement of the request for the statement of interest in becoming a pilot study and the spreadsheet showing those organizations interested in becoming a pilot study. (Attachments 2 and 3) There were 15 organizations who responded. This is a strong vote of confidence in the NMN. These Statements of Interest were reviewed by the NMN review committee for the NMN Pilot Studies. Those on the review committee are Gail Mallard, Chuck Spooner, Jawed Hameedi, Toni Johnson as Executive Secretary, Don Dycus, and Jane Caffrey. The Statements of Interest were prioritized to give best opportunity for representation of NMN. Three groups were identified as highly ranked—Delaware River Basin, Lake Michigan, and San Francisco Bay Area. These three sites are good selections for studies and also a good geographical representation. Chuck Spooner said that the Requests for Statements of Interest were sent to all of those who may have been interested. Another group just recently said that they were not able to respond in time but wanted us to know that they are interested.
Relations of Nitrogen in Ground Water and Surface Water to Land Use and Wetlands in New Jersey at Different Geographic Scales.
Eric Vowinkel gave presentation and distributed paper on Rates, Trends, Causes and consequences of Urban Land Use Change in the United States. (Attachment 4) See pp presentation #9.
WORK GROUP MEETINGS.
The first day of the meeting concluded with work group meetings. Discussion included Advanced Monitoring Initiative and conference planning for the WIS. The C&O group focused mainly on conference planning.
Resolving Impairments in 303d Listed Waters (Governor’s Clean Water Initiative.
Chris Piehler gave presentation on resolving impairments in 303D Listed Waters (Governor’s Clean Water Initiative and current plan.) (See pp presentation #8) Plan Objectives to use existing Deparment organization to create procedures that will not increase resource needs but instead focus existing resources toward the common goals. Louisiana has had a Compliance Monitoring Strategy since 2001.
Using Structural Equation Modeling to Analyze Monitoring Data.
Presentation done by Jim Grace, USGS/NWRC. (See pp presentation #11.)
Basic Approaches to Monitoring Coastal Wetlands.
Chris Swarzenski, USGS/NWRC gave presentation.
WETLANDS ASSIMILATION OF TREATED EFFLUENT.
Dr. John Day, Louisiana State University, gave presentation on Wetlands Assimilation of Treated Effluent. Dr. Day discussed municipalities using or considering wetland assimilation; discussed nutrient removal at four sites.
OPEN DIALOG ON CONFERENCE PLANNING.
Eric Vowinkel and Chuck Spooner lead discussion on conference planning. suggestions for emphasis and themes for the conference were open for discussion with full Council. Chuck gave a little history of how the monitoring conferences were created. The first three or four conferences focused on learning what participants thought the work of the Council should be. Customer relationships with attendees of the conferences is important. Interest of what the States are working on and their programs that might be focus for sessions or workshops. Eric reviewed work that was done at yesterday’s work group meeting on conference planning. What do we want the conference to be. Gail indicated that the timeline said that the initial announcement “Hold the Date” will include outline of all themes. How will this list be used. Save the Date will be an overall brief one pager on the Sixth National Monitoring Conference and probably some highlights of topics to be discussed at conference and an overview on the city site of the conference. Announcement of Abstracts should be sent out in May with a request for abstracts to be received by October. Review of the abstracts would be finalized at the winter (December) Council meeting. This will be the Tenth Year Anniversay of the Council mentioned Peter and thought it would be a good theme. Lets focus on “Who should Attend” –say why those groups should attend and what presentations should those groups be interested in. Find a way to bring in those groups who were not chosen for the Network pilot studies. Kick off as a plenary said Chris McDonald. Dan Radulescu mentioned that TMDL’s should be included in session on this issue. Neil Kamman suggested panel discussions with focused time for specific posters relating to the discussions and specific setup in the exhibit hall and instructions for finding those posters and outline for where to view the posters based on specific topics. Sponsors should have time for focus on their programs. Broad regional monitoring and national monitoring network sessions suggested Jawed Hameedi. Think about new monitoring technologies that have great potential for use by the monitoring community. Tamim Younos said the monitoring conference should be categorized about science and technology and under that a number of themes; regulation and regulation requirements; TMDL issues under that, education, communicating citizens knowledge; Regional and National scale initiatives.
BUSINESS MEETING
WATER INFORMATION STRATEGIES WORK GROUP.
Curtis Cude discussed overview of work group; National Hydrography Dataset River/Stream file. WIS is interested in Data Stewardship and Feedback, Applications to Water Quality Assessments; Advanced Monitoring Initiative: Variety of Water Quality Initiatives and Projects. The work group discussed ways to improve visibility between the Subcommittee on Ground Water and Council. The group also discussed ways to recruit members for the SOGW. Peter Tennant discussed program development activities. Developing questionnaire for State Monitoring Coordinators and will ask State members of Council to get the questionnaire to other states in their region. Don Dycus is lead in optimizing State Networks. Dan Radulescu reported for Data Analysis and Interpretation. This team focused on inventory of statistical methods. For full minutes of work group, see http://acwi.gov/monitoring/workgroups/wis/minutes_lafayette_032007.html.
COLLABORATION AND OUTREACH WORK GROUP.
Dave Tucker reported. Group discussed plans for National Monitoring Conference and WEF involvement. WEF’s work will allow the Conference Planning Committee to focus on program not logistics.
METHODS AND DATA COMPARABILITY BOARD.
Eric Vowinkel reported. See pp presentation #10.
MEMBERSHIP.
Chuck Spooner discussed vacancies on Council. We are working to sign up Tony Shaw as Region 3 Representative from Pennsylvania. There are possibilities for a Region 8 Representative. Chuck is receiving suggestions from the EPA Regional Monitoring Coordinator. There is a vacancy for the Tribal Representative. Neil Kamman has a contact from Oklahoma and will send this information to us.
UPCOMING MEETINGS.
The summer meeting will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the EPA Regional Office, on July 24-26, 2007. Plans for the winter meeting are for a location in California on December 4-6, 2007.
Judith B. Griffin
Executive Secretary
Attendees:
Val Connor
Jane Caffrey
Barry Long
Michael McDonald
David Shepp
Jeffrey Schloss
Dan Radulescu
Bruce Prudhomme (for Sherry Hazelhurst)
Gail Mallard
Chuck Spooner
Chris Piehler
Toni Johnson
Eric Vowinkel
David Tucker
Peter Tennant
Candie Wilderman
Judy Griffin
Art Garceau
Don Dycus
Leslie McGeorge
Tamim Younos
Jawed Hameedi
Curtis Cude
Neil Kamman
Guests:
Michael Kearney, Univ MD
Jack Waide, NWRC
Danielle Kreeger
Karen McKee
John White, Univ. of LA
Stephen Faulkner, NWRC
Chris Swarzenski, NWRC
James Grace, NWRC
John Day, LA State University
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological
Survey
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Thursday, 06-Sep-2007 13:16:13 EDT