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=' MINNESOTA WATER WATCHERS NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2005 et' ` ~ ~. ~; ~ _ r L~ . . Photo Courtesy of Sandy Holm } ~~^. .~ ~. ~. MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION ~ ~ ~E ~_ ~:- RECEIVED MAY ~` ~ 2005 Sandra Holm, CITIZEN MONITORING PROGRAM DIRECTOR, MINNESOTA LAKES ASSOCIATION ® ~ is that time of year again: MONITOR- ING SEASON. Think of this as a time to a n take stock of previous monitoring seasons and evaluate their successes and short- comings. Evaluation tools include surveys, evaluation forms, conversations with data users, volunteer interviews, and actual moni- toring data and information. The informa- tion can be used to better plan and implement this season's monitoring. This dis- ~ cussion is meant to get you think- h~~~ ing about ways to improve your ~.~ ~' monitoring program through an _ evaluation process and to help you organize your thoughts as you get _~'" ready to embark on another pro- ductive monitoring season. PREVIOUS MONITORING SEASON(S) EVALUATION 1. Determine if your monitoring goals and objectives are clearly defined. Goals state, in a succinct form, what you are trying to learn about the water body and/or watershed. The objectives describe what you need to do to get there. For example, conduct- ing monitoring to establish baseline informa- tion on a water body might be your goal, while identifying sampling sites might be one of the objectives. Without a goal, it's difficult to measure if your program is successful or needs to be changed.. 2. Determine what works in the monitoring program (Successes). Knowing your strengths will help you better focus anal improve the weaker areas. For exam- ple, maybe the volunteer base and fundraising are strong points, or your data helped educate Lakeshore owners about their lake. Take the time to celebrate these successes- 3. Determine what did not work in the monitoring program (Weaknesses). Now is the time to identify past problems, work out solutions and apply them to this year's monitoring program. Some areas to consider are: sampling regime; equipment; data analysis and storage; data usability; data reporting to the public; volunteer recruitment, coordination and retention. 4. Evaluate program costs. Research your funding base and realistically assess your expenses. Maybe there are param- eters being collected that aren't providing the information you need, or other parameters that should be collected. Will you need to purchase new equipment or replacement parts for old equipment? If budget projections show greater expenses than are available there may be fundraising or grant writing in your future. 5. Provide feedback. Report the results and how they will be used to your stakeholders such as association mem- bers, board members, data users, etc. This will help everyone understand what, if any, changes are being made and why With. the evaluation behind you it's never too early to start thinking about what needs to be organized for this year. Don't let preparation for summer's sampling trips sneak up on you. Now is the time to gather the monitoring committee and consider recruit- mentand training of volunteers; establishment of new sampling sites; contacting the analysis laboratory and scheduling sampling dates; assessing the condition of sampling equip- ment; reviewing all sampling forms; and revi- talizing or building partnerships. Now you are SET to GO monitoring.