Workshop Descriptions

QAPP Study Design • Lake Sampling • Weed and Watershed • Bugs • Data Management • Data Interpretation • Starting a Lake Monitoring Program

Generic QAPP Workshops

 

The Massachusetts Volunteer Coastal Monitoring General Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) is now available for use by volunteer monitoring groups. A companion document for inland volunteer monitoring is in production. These guidebooks are intended to greatly ease the job of writing a QAPP, by providing default information that groups can use or adapt as appropriate to document their own monitoring programs. 

Workshop goals:
Participants will learn how to translate the General QAPPs into program-specific QAPPs. Participants will also learn:

• how to develop Standard Operating Procedures for specific field and laboratory methods;
• how to incorporate SOPs into a QAPP;
• the QAPP submittal process in Massachusetts.

By attending the workshops, and doing some homework, participants will be able to at least partially complete a QAPP. Followup consultation assistance will be available to workshop participants through the end of June.

Who should attend: Monitoring Program Coordinators, Quality Assurance Officers, and others involved in writing a QAPP. The workshops will not offer training on how to conduct specific sampling procedures and are not intended for volunteer field samplers or lab analysts. However, participants will learn how to document all types of water and watershed monitoring surveys and methods in a QAPP. To get a better idea of what will be covered, review of the the General QAPP document will be helpful.

Logistics: There will be 2 coastal and 2 inland training programs.  Each program consists of two full-day workshops, held 2 weeks apart. Please note that the coastal trainings will include information on freshwater monitoring, for those groups who conduct monitoring programs in both freshwater and saltwater (and related habitats). The inland trainings will deal only with freshwater systems.

Instructors:   
Jerry Schoen, Massachusetts Water Watch Partnership (all sessions)
Sara Grady, North and South Rivers Watershed Association  (Coastal sessions only)

There is no fee for these workshops.  This project is funded by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. 

Schedule & Locations
Coastal Training:

Ipswich Town Hall                                            Plymouth Library                     
Session 1:    March 27                                      Session 1: March 29
Session 2:     April 10                                       Session 2: April 12

Inland Training:
UMass, Amherst                                              DCR Facility, West Boylston
Session 1:  April 21                                          Session 1:  April 24
Session 2:  May 5                                             Session 2:  May 8

All workshops will run from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

Directions will be sent to all who register.

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED (Fill out Word form and email back to jschoen@tei.umass.edu)

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Study Design Workshop

 

 

Volunteer Monitoring groups in Southeast Massachusetts are invited to a study design / QAPP workshop. Other MA monitoring groups are also welcome, as space allows.

Workshop participants will learn what is involved in writing study designs and QAPPs, and begin working on developing their own, under the guidance of workshop facilitators. The workshop is geared to volunteer groups that are currently monitoring or wish to start up a monitoring program. If you are currently monitoring, we can help you evaluate your current program and fine-tune or modify it for improvements. If you don't now but intend to monitor, we can help you design your monitoring plan and make sure you get off on the right foot.

Highlights

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Lake Field Techniques Workshop

 

 

At this all day workshop, participants learn hands-on how to take these lake measurements: * Air and Water Temperature * Water Transparency * Dissolved Oxygen * pH and Alkalinity * Total Phosphorus * Chlorophyll a

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of equipment is demonstrated and participants have a chance to practice using it on the lake (several boats are available to take participants on the lake).

Fixing of dissolved oxygen samples is demonstrated, as is filtration of chlorophyll samples.

We explain how to choose a sampling site, and the triangulation techniques to find this site consistently throughout the sampling season.

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Lab Analyses Training and Certification Workshop

 

 

In this workshop we demonstrate analytical methods for pH, alkalinity, and dissolved oxygen. In the morning, basic chemistry principles are discussed to understand the analyses, and the methods are demonstrated. In the afternoon, participants practice the analyses in the lab themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Certification: Groups who already own their analytical equipment (pH-meter, electrodes, and digital titrator) can be tested by the lab director on blind samples. Groups who pass the test on their own equipment are then certified for the sampling season. This certification is not mandatory, but is useful to groups who need tangible proof of the quality of their work for their project.
Analysts who are already experienced may come just for the certification part of the workshop. Contact us to arrange for a time.

Thermometer Calibration: there will be a Standard thermometer available to calibrate your field or lab thermometers, so bring them along!

DO-meter Calibration: Bring your Dissolved Oxygen meter and calibrate it against the Winkler titration method.

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Streamside Survey Plus

 

 

This workshop will familiarize participants with the role of river benthic macroinvertebrates in stream ecology and give hands-on training in: sampling, streamside evaluation of population preservation of representative specimens lab identification to order for most specimens and to family for Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera data analysis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop Schedule:
Day One ~ Introduction and Sampling
Background On Stream Ecology / Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Review Stream Sampling Procedure
Getting to Know the Critters
Stream Sampling in the field

Day Two ~ Bug ID and Data Interpretation
Introduction to mayfly, stonefly, caddisfly, other major group family identification
Participants learn, practice Identification of specimens to order/family level, using dissecting scopes
Review/discussion of critter literature. Participants will use available texts to read about morphological, behavioral, habitat characteristics of different types of organisms; report back to group on their findings
Data interpretation: Review streamside evaluations, compare with additional information learned today. Discussion of water quality & habitat implications
Data use / presentation.

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Weed and Watershed Survey Workshop

 

 

Participants identify aquatic plants at Sugden Reservoir

This workshop provides training in: Watershed land surveys Aquatic plant mapping Aquatic plant identification Participants are encouraged to discuss their own needs for and experiences with plant mapping in their lakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Data Management Workshop

 

 

This workshop is intended for citizen volunteers who monitor their watershed or some part of it and need help organizing their data.

We cover the following topics:

There is a computer hands-on session on spreadsheet design, data entry, and graphics production. We use MicroSoft Excel to demonstrate a spreadsheet with several sampling dates, sites and parameters, MicroSoft Access to demonstrate databases.

You can bring your data to practice. You can also bring in data sets with problems.

Computer literacy is necessary for this workshop. Tell us whether you are a beginner or advanced spreadsheet/database user so we may separate into two sessions.

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Data Interpretation Workshop

 

 

At this workshop, we explain the steps volunteer monitoring groups need to take to ease the task of making sense of the numbers they have generated through their monitoring program.

In the morning, we outline what information, besides data, is needed. Where to go for help is also described. Many handouts are distributed to guide participants through the theoretical process of data interpretation.

In the afternoon, we break out into several groups: rivers, lakes, estuaries, depending on who the participants are. Then each group walks through a real data set, provided by a participant, to illustrate what was learned in the morning.

Starting a Lake Monitoring Program

At this day-long workshop hosted by COLAP's Winter Lake and Pond Management Workshop, MassWWP introduces you to what is involved in starting a lake monitoring program, the steps involved, study design basics, as well as a short introduction to lake ecology and typical tests undertaken to evaluate the health of your lake. The agenda looks as follows:

10:15 Welcome and introductions
10:25 Some basic concepts of lake ecology
10:50 What is involved in a monitoring program
11:30 Break
11:45 Typical lake surveys
12:15 Common tests
- when to do this test
- how to do this test
- what equipment is needed and how much does it cost
- what skills are required of volunteers for this test
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Study design and quality control
3:15 Adjourn

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