Wednesday, February 2

Charlie Peters, U.S. Geological Survey

Laurie Rounds, Indiana Department of Natural Resources

John McKinney, Michigan Sea Grant Extension, Michigan State University

Ric Lawson, Great Lakes Commission

This workgroup focused on how best to illustrate the benefits of monitoring coordination to Council

members as well as those outside of the Council.

It was agreed that the best way to accomplish this would be to draft a brochure to promote the Council.

This brochure should provide some examples of existing collaborative efforts, as well as suggest other areas

where regional coordination would be beneficial. Local examples would be more meaningful to Council

members.

The workgroup formed an initial list of current monitoring coordination projects inside and out of the Lake

Michigan basin:

• National Water Quality Monitoring Council

• Maryland Water Monitoring Council

• Other states: Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Florida

• Watershed groups, specifically the Grand Traverse Bay Initiative

• US Fish and Wildlife’s Lake Sturgeon Monitoring Plan

• Natural Resource Damage Assessments

• Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) — Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and Sea Grant Programs

This brochure could be distributed through networks at the Great Lakes Commission, Sea Grant, and

others. The Council could also have materials published in newsletters such as the AWRA and agency

publications. USGS could help prepare the brochure, but probably could not fund the printing or

distribution costs.

It was also suggested that time be set aside at full Council meetings for presentations on existing

coordination projects. A local group such as the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council or Friends of the

St. Joseph would be good for the Kalamazoo meeting. Other options include the Grand Traverse Bay

Initiative or a presentation on ANS collaboration.

It also will be necessary to set aside some time to discuss funding at the next Council meeting. The

NWQMC gets funding from several federal agencies and struggles to keep going, while the state groups

have funding provided through legislative mandates.