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G) Determine where and when you will monitor. The sampling sites and collection schedule depend on your monitor- inggoals and the chosen parameters and assess- menu. Another influencing factor is variabili- ryfrom natural, human and sampling/analysis sources. Developing and documenting specific criteria can reduce this variability. 7) Maintain quality assurance and quality control. The desired data quality is deter- mined by your monitoring goal, data use and data user. A quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC) system is developed and docu- mented to achieve it. Your QA/QC protocols need to be identified before monitoring to ensure that your data is credible and useful. 8) Store and manage data Monitoring does- n't end with the collection of data and neither does your plan. Data has to be managed and stored in a planned manner. Without this step, data can be lost or difficult to analyze and interpret. Through planning, it will be easier to turn the raw data into information that can be shared with data users and the public. 9) Data analysis, interpretation & assess- ment. In order to make sense of your data and present it to the public, it has to be analyzed, interpreted and assessed. You must plan for how you will analyze the data. This is not an easy task since the data hasn't yet been collect- ed, but it is vitally important as this is where your data gets turned into conclusions or opin- ions about the health of your watershed and/or waterbody. 10) Reporting, presenting, planning for change. Finally, it is time to share your infor- mation with others. To do this successfully, it is helpful to identify your target audience. This depends on what you want to happen as a result of your presentation. How you pres- ent your findings to a planning and zoning board is quite different than how it would be presented to property owners. It is helpful to look at this issue ahead of time and plan far it, even though your ideas may change over time. 11) Identify tasks, roles and timelines. As with all plans there must be trained and capable people to carry it out within a given timeframe. In order to implement a success- ful monitoring program you must consider: who will be doing the work, what are the technical needs and who will provide them, what tasks are needed for program imple- mentation, and how long will it take (time- lines). 12) Follow up and evaluation. Because plans are living documents, it is necessary to look at all plan elemenu to determine if you are suc- cessfizl and what areas need improvement. Planning this last step includes both short- term and long-term program evaluation. Using these 12 steps, groups partici- pating in the pilot trainings developed a moni- toring plan specific to their unique lake or river segment and their group's capabilities. Their plans can provide local solutions to local problems anal concrete information for problem identification as well as identify and utilize resources in the most effective manner, direct actions to important areas, document data quality, and provide measures of success. A good monitoring plan is a comprehensive collection of water quality information, defines monitoring respon- sibilities, and establishes timelines to assure the monitoring gets done in a timely manner. Through the process, pannerships are fostered between residents, resource managers and special interest groups, thus improving opportunities for receiving funding grants. Training Group One has just finished their first sampling season. We are anxiously waiting for their reports on how their plans helped them achieve their monitoring goals.. We will use this information to make additional adjustments to our training program. Training Group Two is in the process of finishing their plans and will begin implementation next spring. Our next step is to make these tools and trainings available to a greater number of monitoring groups.. Additional grant monies from LCMR have been recommended for MLA and RCM to finalize the training process in 2006 and train additional groups; details are presently being worked out. We'll keep you updated in future newsletters. Page 5