PowerPoint
Development Tool
For the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program
Enabling YOU to make your own presentations
What is the purpose of this
PowerPoint?
• The resources contained in this PowerPoint file are
to help anyone interested in the MiCorps program
develop their own presentation.
• Simply keep the slides you are interested in, delete
those you are not.
MiCorps
Overview
“Together, we’ll create the nation’s most
comprehensive and meaningful clean
water monitoring system, building a water
legacy for generations to come.”
Former Governor Jennifer Granholm
2003
MiCorps Mission
•Network and expand volunteer water quality
monitoring organizations statewide for the purpose
of collecting, sharing, and using reliable data.
•Educate and inform the public about water quality
issues
•Foster water resources stewardship to facilitate the
preservation and protection of Michigan’s water
resources.
MiCorps- What is it?
•MiCorps consists of two main programs concentrating on volunteer
stream and lake monitoring.
•Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program (VSMP)
•Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program (CLMP)
• Other components of MiCorps that support the 2 main programs are:
- Grants (Streams only)
- Trainings
- Annual Conference
- Newsletter
- Email ListServ for discussion and news
- Web site
- Web-based, publically available, searchable database
MiCorps concentration in
quality assurance gives us…
• Better data and information
– More consistent and complete
– Quality controlled and assured
– Broadly collected
• Greater use by the DEQ and local
managers in planning and management
• Continued funding of the program.
Volunteer Stream
Monitoring Program
(VSMP)
Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program
(VSMP)
•A grant-based program for local groups to develop or enhance
stream monitoring programs. Groups must be non-profits,
academic, or local government.
• $50,000 is available every year
– Full grant: $10-15k
– Startup grant: $1 – 3k
• Full grants typically last
2 years
• Start-up grants last
1 year.
The VSMP annual training day
What would a successful volunteer
monitoring program look like?
• You collect data about your fresh water
• You use it to and the monitoring process to educate and
foster stewardship, & get people to independently take
action.
• You continually are
reaching new people.
• Human impacts to the
watershed are alleviated.
Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program
•
Since 2005, 28 Groups
have received grants.
Including:
– Cannon Township
– Tip of the Mitt
Watershed Council
– Friend’s of the
St.Clair River
– Muskegon River
Watershed Assembly
– Branch County
Conservation District
– Upper Peninsula
Resource
Conservation and
Development Council
Stream Program Components
Groups who receive
grants are expected to:
• Find, engage, train
volunteers
• Collect and identify
macroinvertebrates
• Monitor habitat
• Databases (MDE,
Volunteer)
• Verify & interpret the data
• Follow up as needed with
relevant authorities based
on the results of monitoring.
What support do grantees get from
MiCorps?
• Money, of course.
• Training, procedures, technical assistance.
• A solid reputation.
• Plugged into the
MiCorps network.
Why collect bugs?
Scientifically Useful
Great for Volunteers
• Good indicators of stream
conditions
• Easy sampling techniquesgreat for volunteers
• Diversity = Healthy stream
• Generally abundant
communities- volunteers find
them quickly.
• A scarcity of bugs may
indicate:
– Sedimentation
– Habitat loss
– Chemical pollution
– Hydrology problems
How do MiCorps groups collect
bugs?
• Each team member gets a job- collector, scribe,
picker, shuttler, leader, etc.
• Collector works upstream collecting along ~300 foot
reach. Collector samples a variety of microhabitats.
• Store in 70% ethanol until identification and for long
term storage. Avoid rubbing alcohol.
• Groups hold identification
events
How do MiCorps groups collect
bugs?
• The goal is to find as many different types as
possible, not collect a certain number.
• This differs from DEQ Procedure 51.
• Time limits: Generally, one collector should
collect between 30-45, until you don’t see
anything new.
Stream Macroinvertebrate Datasheet
Suggestions for Reporting Your Data
• The MiCorps stream quality score is calculated from the
macroinvertebrate datasheet.
• Do not compare the MiCorps score between sites that
are much different from each other (esp. in regards to
stream sizes, geology, and temperature.)
• This is an unfair comparison since some streams will
naturally have more bugs than others (i.e. a naturally
rocky stream vs. a naturally sandy stream).
• The best use of a MiCorps score is to track long term
trends for a SINGLE site, and NOT to compare sites.
The following 2 slides are examples of a site
monitoring report that could be developed
for stakeholders or volunteers.
The Huron River Watershed Council uses PowerPoint as a layout tool
for these reports, which are then printed.
2
Boyden Creek at Delhi Road
Overall Condition: Good
There are many kinds of bugs at this site, especially for such a small watershed, and
several of them are sensitive. The water is clean and cool and the stream banks are
healthy. Although the habitat is limited by some sand in the swift flowing areas (riffles),
the stream clearly has good quality, and it has clearly improved over the last 12 years.
Measuring Stream Quality
MiCorps Stream Quality Score
Adopt-a-Stream Site Report, updated January 2011
60
Excellent
50
Good
40
30
Fair
20
10
Poor
0
0.0
We use the bugs living in the creek to measure stream quality for two reasons. When
the stream is rich in habitat variety it will have many diverse kinds of bugs (called
families). Also, some bugs (called sensitive) can live only in good quality streams; they
die in a poor quality stream. Any stream with sensitive families has the clean water
and good habitat required by those bugs to survive.
1.0
1998-2000
2.0
2001-2003
3.0
2004-2006
4.0
2007-2009
5.0
2010-2012
Long Terms Trends at this site, based on the MiCorps Stream Quality Score.
Each point represents a 3 year average of the samples taken at this site.
Monitoring Data
These data come from HRWC volunteers who have monitored this site 20 times,
starting in 1998.
Photo credit: Lydia Austin
This site on Boyden Creek is only 11 feet wide and a few inches deep, with an
occasional one-foot deep “pool”. In 2007 we found nice habitat here, good stable
substrate on the bottom and fully vegetated banks. However, more than half of the
rocks in the riffles were clogged with sand, limiting the living spaces for bugs and
other creatures. It has clean and very cold water (seldom over 68°F) and very little
urban runoff.
There is good variety of bugs here for a site with such a small watershed, including
several that are sensitive.
In the spring we typically find an average of 13 different families and usually two or
three are sensitive families that require a good quality stream. In the fall an average
of 18 families are typically found, with a sensitive one each time. That is remarkably
good for such a small stream in the Huron River system!
In the winter we find the smaller of two stonefly families that only grow during the
cold, winter months. They are dormant the rest of the year.
Huron River Watershed Council, 1100 N. Main Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, (734) 769-5124 x 601.
Please contact psteen@hrwc.org or go to www.hrwc.org for more information.
Boyden Creek at Delhi Road
Background Information
Site History
Boyden Creek was named after Luther Boyden who came to Michigan from
Massachusetts in 1826. He and Thomas Alexander drew straws to
determine the location of their property in what is now Webster Township,
just north of Joy Road. Boyden won, and he chose the level, burr oak area,
which became known as Boyden’s Plains and the source of Boyden Creek.
He became locally famous as the first man in Webster to persuade his
neighbors to help raise a barn without offering them whiskey.
What You Can Do
Help us improve Boyden Creek! Plant trees and deep-rooted plants in low
areas on your property to help the rain infiltrate into the earth so it can be
cleansed and cooled. Go to www.hrwc.org/take-action for ways
to keep the rain at home so that it doesn’t wash pollutants into the stream and
cause flooding from the sudden increase in flow volume.
A part of this creek was straightened by dredging several years ago to
follow the property line. However, when the water level is high enough it
returns to follow the original, meandering course.
How is the Creek affected by land use here?
Google 2011
This site on Boyden Creek is small, receiving water from only 6 square
miles of land, mostly farms.
This is one of the most rural areas in the Huron watershed, according to
data from 2000. Only 7% of the Boyden Creek watershed is developed
while more than half of the land is used for agriculture. At that time, only
4% of the land was covered by impervious surface.
Impervious surface prevents rain from being filtered and cleaned through
the soil and, instead, delivers it quickly to the stream, carrying pollutants
and causing surging flows that damage the habitat and insect
community.
Creeks tend to start degrading once the watershed is more than 10 %
impervious and become badly degraded by 25%. [The most urbanized
Huron River creek (Millers Creek) is 45% impervious.]
Watershed land use in 2000: 68% Agriculture, 7% Urban, 5% Forest, 7%
Open, 13% Wetland.
Insects found in at least two sampling events from 2008-2010:
*Capniidae — slender winter stonefly
*Nemouridae — Nemourid broadback stonefly
*Perlodidae — Perlodid stonefly
Baetidae — small minnow mayfly
Calopterygidae — broad-winged damselfly
Chironomidae — midge
Elmidae — riffle beetle
Heptageniidae — flathead mayfly
Hydropsychidae — common netspinner caddisfly
Limnephilidae — northern caddisfly
Simuliidae — black fly
Tipulidae — crane fly
Uenoidae — Uenoid caddisfly
*Sensitive Family
Macroinvertebrate Training
Flying Adults
Complete Metamorphosis
P
Adults
Typically but not always terrestrial
Aquatic Pupae
Midge
(True Fly)
Life Cycle
Other groups:
Eggs
E
Beetles
Alderflies
Dobsonflies
Aquatic Larvae
Caddisflies
(many growth
instars)
Eggs
Incomplete Metamorphosis
Adults
Eggs
Nymph (aquatic)
Numerous
growth instars
Dragonfly
Life Cycle
z
Adults (typically
but not always
terrestrial )
Other groups:
Mayflies
Eggs
Stoneflies
True Bugs
Let’s meet the bugs!
Group 1: Sensitive
MiCorps procedures requires identification down to the
taxonomic levels shown in the next few slides.
Groups can choose to identify to a lower taxonomic level
if that is their desire.
If you use these slides for training purposes, we recommend
that every participant receives a datasheet so they can see the
listing of the different groups.
Caddisflies
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Trichoptera
Common Net-spinning
Caddisfly
NOT a sensitive species
10 mm
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Trichoptera
Family: Hydropsychidae
3mm
44mm
Order Megaloptera: Note the Differences!
Hellgrammite
(family Corydalidae)
• No distinct, single tail
Phylum: Arthropoda
• Generally larger
Class: Insecta
Order: Megaloptera
Alderfly
(family Sialidae)
Distinct, single tail
• Generally smaller
Mayflies
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Ephemeroptera
Gilled Snail
• Have an operculum or plate-like door
that protects the opening of the shell
and can be quickly closed to avoid
predators.
• Coiled shells that usually open on the
right-hand side.
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: various
Phylum: Arthropoda
Stonefly
Class: Insecta
Order: Plecoptera
Nymph
Adult
More stoneflies
Water Penny
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Psephenidae
The adult water penny is not found in the water!
Watersnipe Fly
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Athericidae
Group 2: Somewhat-Sensitive
Order Megaloptera: Note the Differences!
Hellgrammite
(family Corydalidae)
• No distinct, single tail
Phylum: Arthropoda
• Generally larger
Class: Insecta
Order: Megaloptera
Alderfly
(family Sialidae)
Distinct, single tail
• Generally smaller
Beetles
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Beetles
Chewing or biting mouthparts
3 Pairs of legs
Generally well sclerotized
Black Fly
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Simuliidae
Clams & other bivalves
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Pelecypoda
Order: various
Do not collect large clams/mussels. Leave these in the creek.
Crane Fly
Phylum: Arthropoda
Huge Diversity in sizes
Class: Insecta
(one useful character:
Order: Diptera
mandibles on horizontal plane)
Family: Tipulidae
Crayfish
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Decapoda
Dragonflies
&
Damselflies
• Slender body
• Three tails
Phylum: Arthropoda
• Stout body
Class: Insecta
• No tails
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Anisoptera & Zygoptera
Common Net-spinning
Caddisfly
NOT a sensitive species
10 mm
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Trichoptera
Family: Hydropsychidae
Scuds, Sideswimmers
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Order: Amphipoda
Sowbugs
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Order: Isopoda
Group 3: Tolerant
Aquatic Worms (class Oligochaeta)
Phylum: Annelida
Note the segments!
Class: Oligochaeta
Order: various
Leeches
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Hirundae
Order: various
Midges
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Chironomidae
Miscellaneous Snails
• Do not have a plate-like covering over the
shell opening.
• Has shell that spirals with opening usually on
your left side, or shell that is coiled in one
plane, or shell that is dome or hat shaped
with no coils.
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: various
True Bugs
Tube-like sucking mouthparts
Wings hardened near
the base and
membranous
everywhere else
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Other True Flies
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Already seen…
Order: Diptera