THE APALACHICOLA RIVERKEEPER ANNOUNCES COASTAL
PHOTO-MONITORING PROJECT
Through Volunteer Florida (www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org),
residents living along our coastlines have been urged by Governor Charlie Crist
to become Coast Watchers.
This is program of community volunteer observers, similar to Crime
Watch, who can watch for oiled wildlife, vegetation, and beaches in their own
neighborhoods, and report any incidences to the appropriate State and Federal
agency hotlines. With the OSPREY (Oil Spill Recovery) program, The Apalachicola
Riverkeeper is now taking this type of volunteer community response to the next
level:
Beginning
Memorial Day weekend, OSPREY, a pre-impact, photo-monitoring program of the coastline
of Franklin County and Apalachicola Bay, utilizing citizen scientists, will be
initiated. The first "hands on"
training class is being offered:
May 29, 2010
at 4:00 P.M. at the
Apalachicola
Riverkeeper Office
232-B Water St.
Apalachicola.
FAQs ABOUT THIS NEW
PROGRAM:
Q. WHO IS A CITIZEN SCIENTIST?
A citizen scientist is anybody who is willing to devote their
time and attention to training and data collection; In short, a citizen
scientist could be anyone, even YOU!
Q.WHO
CAN PARTICIPATE IN THIS NEW PROGRAM?
This program is open to physically fit volunteers over 18 years
of age, who have morning hours and water or vehicle transportation available to
them in Franklin County. Students
under 18 may participate if they are under the supervision and permission of
their legal guardian or parent.
Q.WHAT
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES WILL WE PARTICIPATING IN?
You will be recording brief video, and still photographs of
Franklin County coastal sites. You
will also be taking and recording GPS coordinates of those sites in some cases,
The Riverkeeper, through a grant from the Waterkeeper Alliance, may be able to
loan you a video camera, and GPS device for you to check out and use. The
procedures used will be the guidelines and standards developed through the Natural
Resource Data Assessment (NRDA) system for data collection. The Apalachicola Riverkeeper will
provide you with the NRDA forms as well as hands-on training in data collection
and recording protocols. You will
provide completed data record forms and media to the Apalachicola Riverkeeper for compilation in our digital repository..
The goal of this program is to amass a dataset of the baseline,
pre-impact records of the observable conditions of environmentally sensitive
areas of our Franklin County coastline and the impacts to them as a result of
the BP Oil Disaster.
Q.WHERE
WILL WE BE PERFORMING THIS VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY?
You will select a site from a grid of environmentally sensitive
areas of coastline. Your site assignment will be based upon your proximity and
ease of access. Safety will be a
primary consideration, so you may be asked to work with a partner, and you must
agree NOT to enter any restricted area.
We must also request that you abide by our minimum impact guidelines
when visiting the site.
Q. HOW CAN I GET ENROLLED AND TRAINED AS A
VOLUNTEER IN THIS PROGRAM?
We are in the process of enrolling volunteers RIGHT NOW. The
first training will be held on MAY 29, 2010 at 4:00 P.M. at THE APALACHICOLA
RIVERKEEPER office, 232-B Water Street, Apalachicola. Call our office at (850) 653-8936, or email Monitoring@ApalachicolaRiverkeeper.org
for more information, or to enroll.
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