Lake Michigan Monitoring Coordination Council
This questionnaire was developed to organize discussions about monitoring network workgroups. The goal is to have each workgroup discuss these topics and develop a summary or plan for workgroup components. These plans will later be combined into a draft strategic plan for the entire Council. The sections and questions are suggestions. Each workgroup may vary in their interests in addressing each section or question. Where possible, please comment on specific tasks, resource needs and schedules for development of each section.
What are the primary goals and objectives that this workgroup should pursue? (Please list overarching goals and objectives needed to meet those goals. You may want to return to this after considering the other sections.)
What are the key organizations/agencies that are needed to help accomplish the objectives of the workgroup?
Who are the key contact persons from the organizations listed above that need to be actively engaged in this workgroup?
Is there currently or should there be a design for coordinating monitoring activities across the Lake Michigan basin? If so, please provide some basic details about its structure:
How is the network coordinated spatially? Are there any gaps?
How is the monitoring network coordinated temporally?
Does the network follow data collection, analysis or reporting standards? If yes please describe how they are set up. If no, what types of comparability standards, if any, should be implemented?
Are there particular parameters that are collected across the basin? If so, what are they? If not, would the basin benefit from a set of parameters collected basinwide?
Are standard quality assurance and control protocols available or necessary?
Are there or should there be standards for data sharing between organizations? Provide any details.
Is or should the data collected be centrally stored and distributed? If so, how is or should this be set up?
Does/should the network report basinwide monitoring results? If so, what is the reporting style, frequency and target audience?
Please describe the current funding mechanism for monitoring within this network (include funding for the network as a whole and member organizations).
What are the gaps or shortfalls with current funding?
What are the barriers to the coordination of monitoring efforts within the workgroup?
How can/are the barriers be addressed through the workgroup?
Are there any reference documents for this network/workgroup? If so, please list.
Is there any other important information about this network/workgroup that has not been included previously?