SRWW 2018 Annual Conference a big success!

The SRWW 2018 Conference was held on February 15, 2018 at the offices of the US Geological Survey in Louisville KY. The conference was attended by 81 people who came out to learn about Salt River Watershed Watch and other projects and programs in this watershed. Conference participants included 19 volunteers, 33 from schools, 12 from government and 17 interested citizens. JoAnn Palmer from the Kentucky Division of Water provided a refresher training on monitoring procedures for existing volunteers. Students from Fern Creek, DuPont Manual and Louisville Male High Schools hung posters and science fair displays to highlight water science projects that they have done with mentoring and assistance from SRWW Volunteers. Ben Miles from Shire Environmental Services hung maps developed through the Salt River Watershed Conservation Mapping Project, that was also presented at the Conference. Salt River Watershed Watch and The Nature Conservancy had tables with information and sign up opportunities.

The conference opened with a presentation by Mike Griffin, Director of the USGS Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky Water Resources Science Center. Mike explained the expanded and very sophisticated monitoring and assessment capabilities available through the newly formed regional science center.

David Wicks gave an overview of the SRWW Environmental Education Grant, awarded to SRWW in 2017. Through this grant, SRWW has mentored students and assisted teachers with locally based water resource education, science fair, class and individual projects and lead guided canoe trips on Beargrass Creek. Students from Fern Creek, DuPont Manual and Louisville Male High Schools presented their projects. One of the presenters, Anjali Chadha won the International Science & Engineering Fair in 2017 with her project to develop an arsenic sensor. Her project was featured in the 2018 Sundance Film Festival film “Inventing Tomorrow” about student scientists. The water resource education theme continued with a presentation about SRWW teaching educators and students in China about watersheds and monitoring.Ben Miles from Shire Environmental presented the Salt River Watershed Conservation Mapping Project, which is underway with participation from many local and regional partners. Maps of areas that are opportunities for conservation were shown and plans for the next phase of the project were described.

Karen Schaffer presented findings of the 2017 SRWW monitoring program and plans for SRWW in 2018. Similar to past years, volunteers found dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity met Kentucky's Water Quality Criteria at most sites. E. coli bacteria were elevated at many sites and about half of the sites had elevated conductivity. A range of habitat and benthic community conditions were found.In 2018, SRWW will be holding 3 training sessions for new volunteers in April. Sampling dates for bacteria, stream habitat and biology have been set for May, June, July and September - Click here to see the SRWW Calendar. SRWW will finish work on the Environmental Education Grant and will seek funding to continue this work. SRWW volunteers will plant native trees to assist The Nature Conservancy with their Mill Creek Ecological Enhancements project in western Louisville. SRWW is also planning up to 4 canoe trips for volunteers. We will also investigate monitoring sites that had two or more issues identified in 2018 sampling.

SRWW is very thankful for use of USGS facilities for the meeting, support from Kentucky Division of Water, Watershed Watch in Kentucky and Kentucky Waterways Alliance. Funding to support our work was provided by the Virginia Environmental Endowment, the US Environmental Protection Agency and contributions from volunteers and conference participants.

Click HERE for the Conference agenda, with links to presentations, handouts, more photos, contacts and the 2018 training and sampling schedule. Contact Karen Schaffer at kschaf4321@gmail.com for more information.