Western Lake Erie Basin Partnership

WLEB UPDATE – December 2007

NEXT TEAM LEADERSHIP MEETING: March 26, 2008 - time and place t.b.a.

It has been a while since some of you heard from me on the WLEB. I have been on the road much and Tony Friona is on a training assignment with the Corps. Even so, lots of things have been going on. As we approach the end of the year, I thought I would update the leadership team and the rest of the WLEB partners on things that have transpired in last few months.

Storm Water Training:

There was excellent attendance at the StormWater Institute Training at Maumee Bay in mid October. More than 80 people attended with very good representation from local officials in the basin. The evaluation and feedback was positive. Hats off to the Center For Watershed protection folks and the planning committee

WELB Project Data Base

The projects committee has worked very hard to develop the WLEB project and program data base. It proved to be a very difficult task given all the players, programs and initiatives in the basin. I think they have done a very good job. The data base was rolled out in a well attended web training session on Dec 11th. Partners are now beginning to learn how to use the data base and enter information. An additional training session will be scheduled after the first of the year for those not participating in the first one. It will take a while to get this populated and working. To request a user id, so that your organization may enter data and print reports, visit the site at http://www3.ttsvcs.com/WLEBProjects/ and click the request an account link.

Thanks to Katie McKibben, Ed Crawford, Jane Loomis, Kurt Waterstradt, and Scott Miller for their dedicated work to make this happen.

StormCenter EnviroCast

After much additional discussion and work following the last leadership team meeting, the StormCenter Envirocast Project is on it’s way to being launched in Toledo. NRCS has signed a contract with StormCenter to fund the project and they in turn have contracted with a Toledo TV station. The project will be publicly unveiled in late January or early February via a TV event that the station is planning.

Over 50 state and local officials, and partner organizations, were invited to be part of the local content providers network. Over 35 attended a training and rollout meeting last week in Toledo. There was a lot of energy in the room. Five people from the TV station were present; the station is excited and committed to the project. The station is looking for additional sponsors to expand this and give it long term sustainability.

Findlay and Ottawa Flooding Video

The Maumee Valley RC&D, with NRCS WLEB funding, contracted with StormCenter to produce a visualization of the August flooding in the Blanchard River Watershed. The product is extremely well done and graphically depicts the rain event and the resulting floods. The video has been shown extensively by local officials. We will plan to show it at the March leadership team meeting.

WLEB Newsletter & Website

NRCS signed and agreement with the Ohio Lake Erie Commission to provide staff support for a WELB newsletter and an updated WLEB website. Chris and Linda of the Lake Erie Office have been hard at work. The first issue is done and will be publicly distributed in conjunction with the coming unveiling of the updated website. You will be impressed, it looks sharp. Chris Riddle has asked some of you for articles for the second issue. Please respond and help Chris stay on his schedule.

The website is being completed updated and given a fresh new look and lots more information. It will be easier to follow and more useful to the public, including where to go for information and help, contacts, and links to many of your own sites. Look for it shortly after the holidays (for now the existing site is still up). Thanks to the Ohio Lake Erie Commission Office, and Chris and Linda for their good work on this. The link will remain the same: www.wleb.org.

WLEB Conservationists

All nine WLEB conservationists are on the job and providing technical assistance to landowners in field offices in the WLEB project area. In mid October, NRCS held a week long conservation planning training session for these people to get them up to speed on using technical tools needed to assist landowners. I have been getting good reports on the work they are doing.

The Ohio WLEB conservationists and their host counties are:

Julie Rutschilling, Auglaize SWCD
Mike Degens, Williams SWCD
Ryan Evers, Van Wert SWCD
Jason Roehrig, Defiance SWCD
Jeremy Gerwin, Wood SWCD
Dominic Goshe, Hancock SWCD

NRCS Urban Conservationist

NRCS has established an Urban Conservation position in Toledo. Cheryl Rice is working out of the Lucas SWCD office. Cheryl is assisting landowners and the field office in applying conservation on the land, as well as helping with WLEB activities and working with units of government and the Rain Garden Initiative. Welcome Cheryl!

Water Use Fact Sheets

USGS, and the ODNR Division of Water, have created a series of water use fact sheets for each of the HUC units in the WLEB project area. The information and fact sheets will be available on the web, and can provide information by county or by Hydrologic units. The information and web link will be formally made available to the public later in January, after we can schedule a briefing for Congresswoman Kaptur and her staff.

Rain Garden Initiative

The Toledo-Lucas County rain garden initiative is moving forward nicely. They have developed bylaws, a structure, and are putting together their work plan for demonstrations and public information activities for the coming year. NRCS has funded American Rivers to plan a tour for that group to other Midwest cities to see how others are successful at storm water management initiatives. You can see what they are up to at:

http://www.raingardeninitiative.org/index.html

Watershed Assessments

NRCS is continuing work on the rapid Watershed Assessments. The data profile for the Blanchard Watershed is in draft form and can be viewed at:

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/OH/pub/Programs/Blanchard/

We are in the process of incorporating final comments and will soon post the finalized version on the Ohio NRCS website. The data profiles for the lower Maumee, Tiffin and St Joe watersheds are underway and will be in draft form soon after the first of the year. Work is also underway on gathering the GIS data elements for the remaining HUC units in the watershed.

The USACE has contracted with some consultants to do their part of the assessments for the watersheds that will feed into the overall Corps report for the project area. Public informational sessions have been held in several of the HUC units over the last month.

Lake Erie Nutrient Issues

Phosphorous and resurgence of algal blooms continues to be a topic of widespread discussion. I am participating on the Ohio Lake Erie Phosphorous Task Force, and interagency team looking at issues associated with the problems and causes and solutions.

In November I attended a Bi-National stakeholder and scientist meeting called by the International Joint Commission to advise the IJC on its role in the nutrient issue and needs for the upcoming revaluation of the Great Lakes Water Quality agreement. The scientific presentations, and discussions, reaffirmed the importance of the concerns over resurgent algal blooms, and increasing dissolved phosphorous levels in Lake Erie. Especially highlighted was the role of zebra and other mussels in altering the historical phosphorous pathways and balances in the Lake, and the near shore nutrient cycles.

There are may divergent opinions yet, but one thing there is consensus on is that nutrients and nutrient management is of critical importance in protecting the lake and reversing the deteriorating trends in water quality as of late. There is no doubt that nutrient management issues, in the lake and on the land, will be coming under increasing scrutiny and calls for action.

On idea presented to the IJC was the idea of pilot projects to address nutrient issues in the watersheds entering the lake. It was state by my self and others, that the Western Lake Erie basin Partnership offers a venue to show how these efforts can work and an opportunity to expand and intensify the efforts in this area.

Future Activities

I would like to have an operations committee meeting in January and will be floating some possible dates to the operations group shortly after the first of the year. We will need to spend some time revisiting the strategic plan and updating every one where we are at with the action items being worked on, and talk about what needs to be done to advance other ones in the plan. We will also need to plan on reports from each of the WLEB committees.