Integrating freshwater science and local management through volunteer monitoring partnerships: the Michigan Clean Water Corps

Abstract

Thousands of local watershed organizations and lake associations are actively involved in protection and management of freshwater systems throughout the USA. These nonprofit organizations may or may not have paid staff and rarely employ trained scientists or natural resource managers. Thus, they face challenges, including lack of access to technical assistance to support their lake and river assessment and management initiatives, and may struggle to convince decision makers of the validity of their efforts. Meanwhile, researchers and managers within academia and agencies are challenged by lack of access to long-term data sets, field sites, funding, and personnel, and sometimes struggle to demonstrate real-world application of research results and to build support for freshwater research and management programs. The Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) volunteer monitoring program is a partnership-based program involving state and regional organizations and local volunteers that has met the above challenges, resulted in expanded monitoring of lakes and streams in Michigan (USA), and led to synergistic outcomes, such as advancing freshwater science, building public support for research and management, and implementing science-based management and protection projects at the local level.

A framework for evaluating and designing citizen science programs for natural resources monitoring

“…Although not a resource characteristic itself, funding was tightly related to management and monitoring characteristics. Broad partnerships and engagement with a range of institutions, including government, academia, NGOs, and the private sector, helped secure more consistent and diverse financial and nonmonetary resources than could be provided by a single institution (Latimore & Steen 2014). For example, limited internal funding pushed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to partner with multiple businesses and community organizations to develop the TrophyCatch program (Dutterer et al 2014).…”

Volunteer stream monitoring: Do the data quality and monitoring experience support increased community involvement in freshwater decision making?

“…Globally, there are few examples of government agencies regularly using volunteer data alongside professional data for official reporting and management (Hunsberger 2004, Sharpe and Conrad 2006, Dyer et al 2014, Buckland-Nicks 2015; but note exceptions in Nerbonne and Vondracek 2003, Nerbonne et al 2008, Latimore and Steen 2014. In New Zealand, although a majority of community environmental groups report sharing their monitoring data with project partners in government or science institutes (Peters et al 2015b), institutional systems for using volunteer data are lacking (Peters et al 2015b).…”

Capacity building in stakeholders around Detroit River fish consumption advisory issues

“…Aspects of aquatic ecosystems that have been monitored by participants in these partnerships include invertebrate communities (Nerbonne and Nelson 2004), microbial indicator species (Stepenuck et al 2011), surface water hydrology (Turner and Richter 2011), and water clarity (Chipman et al 2004). The quality of environmental data collected by volunteers has been evaluated several times (e.g., Fore et al 2001, Nerbonne et al 2008, Latimore and Steen 2014. In this BRIDGES cluster, we focus on conservation partnerships among professional scientists, nonprofit agencies, and unaffiliated citizens and describe how these partnerships can improve understanding and management of freshwater ecosystems and resources.…”

“…The stakeholders were able to address some of these issues by including an additional fish species in the advisory and by developing outreach materials. Latimore and Steen (2014) provided an example of the benefits of the participation and learning models described by van Kerkhoff and Lebel (2006). Latimore and Steen (2014) showed how the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) has expanded monitoring opportunities for citizen volunteers and has led to production of a reliable database on freshwater ecosystems.…”

“…Latimore and Steen (2014) provided an example of the benefits of the participation and learning models described by van Kerkhoff and Lebel (2006). Latimore and Steen (2014) showed how the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) has expanded monitoring opportunities for citizen volunteers and has led to production of a reliable database on freshwater ecosystems. The data have been used by local lake and river associations to develop watershed management plans and by state natural resource agencies to meet their planning and reporting needs.…”