Big Kids and Little Kids

Whew! I can't believe I even have a minute to sit here and update the blog!

The calendar here in the MRCN office was a pretty scary looking thing for the month of April. We had educational presentations and volunteer events all over the place! My two favorites involved two very different groups of people: college students and 10 year olds.

On April 10, MRCN hosted a group of students from the University of Missouri as a part of their event "Caring for Columbia." That morning, over 400 students were assigned to nonprofit organizations throughout the community for a day of service. Our 20 students had a pretty good deal considering that it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. We had them marking storm drains with plastic decals in a Columbia subdivision.

Storm drains in Columbia- like almost EVERY CITY IN THE COUNTRY- do not lead to a water treatment facility! They flow right into our creeks and streams. In order to educate citizens and prevent illegal dumping, the decals read "No Dumping. Drains to Stream." The students helped us affix over 50 decals to storm drains, in addition to delivering pamphlets about the decals to nearby households. They also collected two bags full of trash!

On April 27, we met with a completely different group of students for a completely different mission. The Callaway County Soil and Water Conservation District was holding a field day for 4th grade classes throughout the county. We had a booth that was all about macroinvertebrates! After first telling the students that these bugs are actually GOOD to have in the water, we did a little hands-on game to learn about water quality monitoring. The students had to search under rocks in our "streams" to find "macros." Once they found one, they had to identify it, determine if it is pollution sensitive or tolerant, and then report their finding to the group reporter. Once their streams had been tallied, they were able to determine whether or not their stream was healthy or polluted.

While they seemed to enjoy this, the real fun began when we pulled out vials with the real things! There were many shouts of, "Eww!" "Cool!" and "What is that?" Hopefully none of them were permanently traumatized by the giant cranefly larva...

Enough blogging for now! No rest for AmeriCorps!

2000 Trees, oh my!

2000 trees, oh MY! So far this year we have helped to plant nearly 2000 trees! We have been working with the City of Columbia’s Public Works Department and the Parks and Recreation Department to identify areas in need of trees and to plan work days to get them into the ground. We also did a tree planting with the Big Muddy Refuge Fish and Wildlife Services, and have borrowed dibble bars from them to dig the holes for the trees.

On Friday, April 16^th, we worked with Job Point’s construction crew to plant 300 trees in a strip of land between HWY 70 and HWY 63 in Columbia. When looking for volunteers to help plant the trees, a representative from Job Point said they were looking for “dirty jobs”. Job Point is a job training program, and this crew was great! 10 crew members and 2 staff showed up in work gear, complete with boots, gloves and goggles, they were ready to work! After showing everyone how to use the dibbles and plant the trees, we got started. The planting was a little difficult, as the ground was pretty solid, dry and full of gravel! But we prevailed, and got all 300 trees in the ground in about 3 hours.

On Thursday, April, 22^nd, we planned another tree planting for Earth Day. This time we were located at the City Landfill, focusing on an area of field between the compost piles and nearby Hinkson Creek. Part of the stream bank had eroded pretty extremely from last fall’s heavy rains. Our trees would help stabilize this area, as well as act as filters for any nutrients that would leach from the landfill, through the ground and into the Hinkson. We recruited volunteers, and had a trickle of people throughout the day, helping us plant 450 trees in about 2 acres of stream side land!

March

So March is a month of preparing for the spring and summer ahead of me. It is a time for renewal and energy. So naturally I found myself using Stream Team activities as an excuse to be outside in the woods, and by a river or stream. Of course I don't need an excuse to do so, but it feels like multi-tasking to me.

My last excursion doing Stream Team activities, I was in a beautiful pristine area that is known for the cleanliness and preservation of the land. I was in Labarque Creek testing the bugs and chemicals to see if it was up to par. Our net sets of bugs were shockingly empty. The diversity as well as population was lacking. And very close to where we picked the bugs happened to be two dead Sculpin fish, one mature and another a baby. We found two living minnows, but the Sculpins still disturbed us, especially since it seemed clear that it was a chemical change that killed them. However when we took chemical samples, everything was in the normal ranges. What we did notice was new filamentous algae thickly growing in places it had not been before.

Now we have the Labarque teams working hard to continue the testing and see if it gets better or worse, and possibly to determine the cause of change. But I am optimistic that it will get better so long as we all are conscientious about our actions and how they affect our ecosystem.

March Blog

March was full of activities, both educational and fun. On the tenth Rebecca, Julia and I went to Fulton to help a class of eighth graders do some water quality monitoring on a creek that flows through Fulton. The kids had a lot of fun and we did as well. The kids were divided into small groups and I helped to explain water ph and the use of the turbidity tube. I think we imparted some valuable information and made sure the students didn't fall into the creek. On the 26th we went to Hickman High School in Columbia for their Health Fair. We talked to students about storm water issues and AmeriCorps. Oh, yeah, and on the 16th I was interviewed by Paul Pepper for his show, Radio Friends With Paul Pepper. Mr. Pepper is a long time Columbia media personality whose focus is on the local stories and issues. We are hustling to organize the Canoe For Clean Water Race, Float and Festival taking place on June 19 at Katfish Katy's. Happy spring everyone.

Watershed Festivals come to an end...for now!

James River Basin Partnership finished our last festival in Taney County last month. We educated 2,000 5th graders about their watershed! Even after all of this work, we have a long road! I am still amazed at how little the teachers and chaperons know about their watershed. Maybe in the future we could host a watershed fest for adults!

In order to tackle this problem, I have arranged several presentations that occurred throughout the month on March. I spoke at the Ozark Mountain Paddlers monthly meeting and at the Sierra club on MSU campus! I am working very hard to get the clean water message out!

From the Missouri to the Mississippi

Students in our Rivervision Leadership Project made the connection from the faucet to the drain with all day Water Tours. First we toured the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District's Bissell Plant on the Mississippi River to learn how MSD handles the wastewater that moves through our city. Being on site gave students the opportunity to appreciate the sheer volume the plant handles each day. Another big 'wow' moment was learning of the over 300 pumps that MSD operates to keep portions of the city from flooding. Most of our trip to the Bissell Plant was dedicated to the treatment process on site with the end result being pumped back into the Mississippi River.

After a 20 minute bus ride and short lunch we arrived at Missouri American Water's Central Plant in Maryland Heights. Students got to step out on the massive intake structure over the Missouri river, the source for St. Louisans drinking water. Once in the tank basin, it didn't take students long to comment on the similar technologies used for both drinking water and wastewater treatment. Containing and moving large amounts of water necessitate many of the same kinds of infrastructure and mixing apparatuses. We are fortunate here in St. Louis to have a plentiful, relatively clean source for our drinking water, the mighty Missouri river.

Next week we are following up our Water Tours by delving deeper into infrastructure that lowers wastewater impacts/loads, particularly through combined sewers in our city. We will study permeable pavement, bioretention models large and small, and host Jay Hoskins from MSD as our featured speaker.

Happy Spring to all!

Bringing Fish

The Texas County Soil and Water District held their annual banquet last month to recognize farmers that have worked their land properly as well as thanked the rest of the members of their council for all their hard work. I was able to attend since that is where we recognized the winners of our poster and photo contest. At the banquet, they had a guest speaker from the Missouri Department of Conservation in the Fisheries Department. He had the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan, (since he has prior military experience) to help citizens with creating a Fish Hatchery. He showed the human side that we all seem to forget about when we talk about that part of the world. He spoke about the people he met, their living situations and how grateful they were for his assistance. Two things in particular stuck in my mind.

One day, while he was surveying the area, the translator told a group of young men that he was “bringing fish.” One of the teenage boys was so excited he ran to the fisheries man and gave him his fishing pole. Of course the man didn’t accept the gift as he didn’t want to take it away from the boy, but instead asked if he’d help him catch some fish so he could do some research. The community that this gentleman worked in asked a favor of him. They were having big problems with Farrell Hogs (a problem that we have in my own watershed) and wanted to know how they could get rid of them. He promised to come back in a few days to help them out. On his way back to the village, a group of farmers stopped him. The group of people that are against his help placed mines in the road. The military escorts called it in and were going to sweep the area. But before they arrived, the group of farmers found and reoved all the mines so that the man from MDC would be ok and still help them with their Farrell Hog problem. His stories helped me to realize how fortunate we are to live where we do, and to enjoy and protect the natural resources we have.

40.9 TONS of Trash: Oh My!

On March 27th, over 700 volunteers showed up to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and Creve Couer Park to dedicate their time to the 2010 St. Louis Confluence Trash Bash. This year's event allowed volunteers to break off to 12 different locations to collect garbage from roadsides, creeks, and parks. Although it was difficult to get alongside of the river due to flooding, this didn't stop volunteers from making a huge impact. Altogether, 40.9 tons of trash were collected out of the watershed, stopping the filth from ever making its way into our great rivers and streams. Among the trash were 250 tires, a great deal of scrap metal, and some very unique finds including a prosthetic leg, a blow-up doll, and a wallet with cash inside.

Overall, the event was a huge success! Personally, it felt great to be so involved as one of the chief organizers of the event, but it would not have been nearly as successful without the many partners, sponsors, and volunteers who made it so. These different groups can be viewed here.

Although I love to be kept busy with litter pick up events, I certainly hope volunteers like these put me out of a job. However, until that day comes, save the date: March 26th, 2011 for the next Confluence Trash Bash.

To see more photos of the big day, please visit our flickr site.

Educational Opportunities Galore!

During March I was swamped with helping the James River Basin Partnership finish up their watershed festivals for 5th graders. It was a blast helping teach the Drop in the Bucket activity. Many of the students had never really thought about water conservation. It’s great to be able to reach students from several counties. Luckily through this activity I was also able to make new contacts for school presentations. I presented a Stream Ecology presentation to Billings Elementary 5th graders. I took in live macroinvertebrates and the students were given the task of determining their water quality rating. They all did a great job and loved examining the macroinvertebrates. These students always ask lots of questions about the life they find in their own streams. This is one of my favorite parts because I love telling the students about some of the life cycles of these fascinating insects. The crane fly larvae were one of their favorites and they always are blown away when I tell them what the adult looks like! In case you don’t know they are those “huge-looking mosquito-like” insects that get in your home! The interesting part is that the adults don’t have any working mouth parts! So don’t kill the poor critter and let him back outside!

Cranefly Larvae Adult Cranefly

http://www.backyardnature.net/pix/cranefly.jpg http://www.highroad.org/ranch%20images/Insects/cranefly-hand.jpg

Where'd the foam go?

Greetings from the Lake of the Ozarks! Caroline Toole, here, working with LOWA (Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance) and AmeriCorps (MO Clean Water AmeriCorps Program, hosted by MO River Communities Network (MRCN)), in service to our community!

Spring is here and so is AmerenUE’s Shoreline Cleanup. LOWA has adopted about 7 ½ miles of shoreline, weaving in and out of the coves around mile marker 7, down at the end of Lake Road 5-35. Volunteers from Sunrise Condominiums and LOWA spent a Saturday afternoon hauling large, heavy pieces of waterlogged foam, as well as all kinds of other trash and debris, off of LOZ’s shoreline. AmerenUE sponsors this event twice a year and provides coordination of volunteers, helpers, boats, dumpsters, and trash removal. Bryan Vance, AmerenUE’s Shoreline Manager for Lake of the Ozarks, commented that the encapsulated foam law has really made a large difference in the amount of foam the Shoreline Cleanup is bringing in, with only about half the amount of trash being collected this year compared to last year. LOWA’s group of 4 boats and 22 volunteers collected about 2 tons, or 25 cubic yards, of trash this year. As of the writing of this blog, the Spring 2010 Shoreline Cleanup is still in progress, so a total for the entire spring campaign is not yet in.

Great news is that the Watershed Management Plan for the Lake of the Ozarks, written by LOWA, has been approved by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency. The plan consists of background information about the region and Lake of the Ozarks, and then focuses down to more specific information and discussion about two subwatersheds within the LOZ watershed, Buck Creek HUC #102901090406 and Lick Branch HUC #102901090407. These two smaller watersheds comprise almost the first 19 miles of the Lake of the Ozarks, excluding the Gravois Arm, and are some of the most densely populated and used part of the lake. In the Watershed Management Plan (WMP), LOWA examines nutrient, bacteria, and sediment loading, their sources, and some Strategies to deal with the loading. LOWA has always taken a proactive approach to maintaining and improving the health and beauty of the Lake. LOWA’s Mission Statement is: Citizens will preserve, protect and improve the Lake of the Ozarks, its watershed and natural resources while maintaining our economic, social and environmental health.
The Strategies of the WMP include a large education and outreach component. The Education Outreach and Information element of the plan is very important for the success of the rest of the Strategies because habits, behaviors, and attitudes will be examined as citizens learn about the care of their watershed. One set of Strategies in the WMP addresses reducing the velocity and volume of stormwater runoff both with developers as well as property and home owners. A cost share incentive program for shoreline businesses and residences called LOWA LILs (Low Impact Landscaping) reimburses property owners for part of the cost of installing watershed friendly practices to reduce runoff. Such practices include rain barrels, rain gardens, terracing, and riparian buffers planted with beautiful, deep-rooted, low maintenance native plants. In fact, one of the key speakers at LOWA’s upcoming Public Meeting on April 19 at 6:30 in the Escollo Room of The Lodge of 4 Seasons at the Lake of the Ozarks is DeDe Vest from the NRCS in Springfield and associated with the Show Me Yards and Neighborhoods program to speak about Low Impact Landscaping and LOWA LILs. Come one, Come all!

Water Matters!

So this past month, I spent a good chunk of my time preparing a presentation for the St. Louis University speaker series “Water Matters.” This series is the companion to a fall series entitled “Energy Matters,” and is comprised of [very early] morning sessions on five consecutive Wednesdays. The series was structured such that the first session addressed global issues, and then each successive session focused in more narrowly—giving a comprehensive picture of water issues that ranged from worldwide problems to those in your backyard. I had the opportunity to speak at the third of these series, entitled “The Challenges We Face, What We Can Do and Why We Should Do It,” which addressed metropolitan issues.

One glance at my AmeriLog this past month and you’ll see that I spent a good chunk of my time working on this presentation. There were two reasons for this: one, I was doing a slightly different presentation that required a good deal of research and number crunching; and two, I was terrified of sounding like an idiot in front of a crowd of professionals.

Needless to say, both reasons were enough motivation to put in a lot of effort! The presentation I gave was very cool (if I do say so myself), because my coworker and I attempted to quantify the financial benefits of installing a green roof or pervious concrete.

The reason we chose these two types of green infrastructure was because they are the only types for which the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) lessens the impervious surface fee. This recent—and controversial—fee imposes a monthly charge on your impervious surfaces. Right now, the fee stands as $0.12/100 square feet, however it will more than double over the next four years to $0.29/100 square feet. The purpose of this fee is not only to encourage people to reduce their impervious surfaces, it’s to give MSD the money they need to put in place their Long-Term Control Plan, which will work to address the combined sewer overflows in St. Louis. Either way, this fee is good news for water quality.

In light of this fee, and the various other benefits of installing a green roof or pervious concrete, I presented a case study of a “big box” in Chesterfield. For a variety of reasons, I had much more success calculating the cost/benefit of a green roof rather than pervious concrete, however I believe my research also turned up some important benefits of the latter.

As it turns out, if this store were to install what’s referred to as an “extensive” green roof (which has only a few inches of soil, as opposed to an “intensive” green roof, which has greater benefits but is far more expensive), this store would see a significant net benefit. I used very rough numbers, but I was able to calculate that over 40 years, the life of the green roof, the store would save over $170,000 on impervious surface fees. Furthermore, the store would over $100,000 on energy—and that’s not taking into account that energy prices will likely increase. The store would also save on the cost of replacing the conventional roof, since green roofs extend the life of roofs because they protect from damaging UV rays and wind. In sum, the store would see nearly $300,000 in savings, beginning around year 27 after installing their green roof.

Pervious concrete was a little trickier, because the cost of installing the concrete depends heavily on the site. However, after speaking to several contractors, I was able to ascertain additional monetary benefits that the store would see if they were to put in pervious. First off, pervious concrete does not require a connection to the storm sewer system, which can be quite costly. In addition, the current BMP is to build a stormwater detention basin on the site, which either requires the developer to purchase additional property or reserve some property they would otherwise build on or pave. With pervious, however, developers get the most cost-effective use of their land, because they are not required to build a detention basin. Pervious concrete has a longer lifespan than asphalt, and also saves tenants money on deicing their parking lots (because pervious lots use roughly 75% less salt). Finally, our case study would see over $120,000 in savings on their impervious surface fee over the life of their pervious parking lot! In fact, every contractor I spoke to said that even though pervious concrete is more expensive up front, the costs end up being a wash.

Overall, we discovered that pervious concrete and green roofs are good for the wallet AND good for the environment! One more reason why both types of green infrastructure should be utilized more. And if they contractors I spoke to are right (which I’m inclined to believe they are), that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Happy spring, everyone!

Rain Barrel Art Review and Barrel Roll

Friday, March 19^th was our first ever Barrel Roll in conjunction with our Rain Barrel Art Review. We had 13 artists design and paint rain barrels, and one more barrel completed by children participants at the Sustainability Fair in the fall of 2009. Three of the barrels were at Orr St. Studios during the reception and the rest were at their host locations around downtown Columbia.

The evening began at Orr St. Studios at 5pm. Visitors passed through, picking up maps of where the barrels were located around town and did the Barrel Roll, seeing them all and enjoying the amazing weather. We had two computers up and running for people to begin bidding on the barrels on eBay. Thirteen out of the 14 barrels sold at auction, and we think we have a home for the last one!

Paul Grace provided some bluegrass music from 6-7pm. Then attendees voted on People’s Choice, which we announced as Katrina Thomas and Stirling Williams. We also announced our Jurors’ Choice Awards as the Kellenberger Family, Josie Cozean and Thomas Matthew Pierson. After announcements we enjoyed the musical stylings of Logan and Hunter Park.

We believe there were about 75-85 people in attendance at Orr St. Studios, not counting any people who did the Barrel Roll, but didn’t stop by Orr St Studios. There were also reporters from MU’s The Maneater, the Missourian and KOMU TV. Below are links to the stories from that night.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/03/19/rain-barrel-art-draws-crowd-raises-awareness/

www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/3/23/orr-street-studios-hosts-rain-barrel-art-review/

MRCN wanted to thank Boone Electric Coop Community Trust for funding the event and all our sponsors who provided prizes for the artists. We thank the artists for providing their time, expertise and talent. And we thank the host locations, who shared their spaces and welcomed the many Barrel Rollers. We think the night was a success, and many, many people were made aware of the possible beauty and uses of rain barrels.