THE GREAT RIVERS NEWS
,™
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/820 N-05/001
March 2005
•
EPA Using Partnerships to Grade Health of Great Rivers
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP) has em-
barked on an ambitious research pro-
gram to improve the science of assess-
ing the health of the Great Rivers in the
central United States. Since July 2004,
field crews from 14 cooperating state
and federal agencies have been sam-
pling aquatic organisms, water, and
habitat in the Upper Mississippi, Ohio,
and Missouri Rivers. Crews are sam-
pling more than 3500 miles of river,
from Montana to Pennsylvania, and
from Minnesota to Missouri. Improved
information about river health will help
scientists and the public make better
decisions about river management. A
Great Rivers "report card" will show
current status of the rivers; future report
cards will show whether conditions are
getting better or worse. While condition
reports will be useful to managers, dem-
onstrating how to compile the reports in
the future is an important project goal.
"Grades" of river condition will be de-
rived from indicators based on the diver-
sity within biological communities, levels
of contaminants in fish tissue and sedi-
ments, water quality, and habitat diver-
sity.
River Wisdom
I started out thinking of America as highways and
state lines. As I got to know it better, I began to
think of it as rivers.
Charles Kuralt From the Magic of Rivers
There are alternatives to oil, but there are no sub-
stitutes for water.
Jean Michael Cousteau From the Third World
Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, March 20th, 2003
Geographic Scope of Great Rivers EMAP Study is Extensive
This map shows
the Great Rivers
of the Central
Basin. The num-
bers refer to the
number of sam-
pling locations
throughout the
study area. A
total of 320
sites will be
sampled across
15 states in
2004-2005.
Virgin 27
The Great Rivers Newsletter is periodic publication of the EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Divi-
sion in Duluth, MN. The newsletter is designed to disseminate timely information about the
EMAP-GRE project among EPA investigators; state, federal, and tribal collaborators; and other
stakeholders. Contact Mark Pearson, editor (pearson.mark@epa.gov; 218-529-5205) to obtain
copies of the newsletter.
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Page 2
THE GREAT RIVERS NEWS
LETTER
Data Management Tracking System Update
EMAP-GRE Information
Management (IM) is a cen-
trally localized system which
captures, tracks, validates,
and distributes all data col-
lected in the field, lab, and
office. IM includes the de-
sign of field forms, sample
tracking, field and lab data
entry, data validation, and
more. To date the EMAP-
GRE IM team has tracked
over 3000 samples from ten
field crews to eight different
labs for the 2004 field sea-
son. Field data for 2004
are currently being entered
by Computer Science Cor-
poration under contract with
the EPA into a Surface Wa-
ters Information Manage-
ment (SWIM) database.
Field data entry is done by
scanning the field forms.
Because of this scanning
process each form has a
unique code to identify its
data and alignment boxes.
Collected field data will go
through a rigorous valida-
tion process to ensure its
integrity. Field data are
reviewed by each crew
leader before submission
for entry. The staff entering
the data reviews the output
from the scanning software
with the actual form. Once
data are in the database,
crew members and indicator
leads will have the opportu-
nity to review the data
again. Preliminary data will
be available to the principal
partners for program promo-
tion (posters and presenta-
tions) and exploratory pur-
poses in May 2005.
Conducting training for the
EMAP-GRE Missouri River crews.
EMAP-GRE Technical Committee to Meet in Cincinnati
A view of the Newport KY skyline
from the Ohio River.
The first meeting of the
EMAP-GRE Technical
Committee will be held in
Cincinnati at EPA's Na-
tional Exposure Research
Laboratory on March 29-30.
The Technical Committee
advises the EMAP-GRE
Senior Advisory Commit-
tee. It is the Technical
Committee that considers
issues of field, analytical
methods, assessment
needs, and product devel-
opment. Both the Technical
Committee and the Senior
Advisory Committee are
composed of experts on
ecological indicators, EPA
scientists, and state part-
ners and represent the geo-
graphic scope, ecological
diversity, scientific uncer-
tainties, and stakeholders
of the Great Rivers in the
central basin. In addition,
the Technical Committee
connects the products of
EMAP-GRE to those of
other research and monitor-
ing programs. It is chaired
by David Bolgrien, the pro-
gram's technical coordina-
tor (bolgrien.dave@epa.gov
or 218-529-5216).
Ted Angradi (EPA) evaluating inver-
tebrate sampling techniques.
EMAP-GRE Has a Successful First Field Season
The first field season of EMAP-
GRE was successfully completed in
September 2004. Nineteen crews
of state, federal (USGS), and con-
tractor personnel collected data at
144 sites (68 on the Missouri River;
46 on the Mississippi River; and 30
on the Ohio River) from July
through September. All sampling
crews had a safe field season and
no logistical constraints were en-
countered. High flows following
Hurricane Jeanne caused the sam-
ple season on the Ohio River to be
curtailed two weeks early. These
sites will be sampled in 2005. All
the biological samples have been
delivered to laboratories; many
samples have already been proc-
essed. QA audit visits by EPA and
Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation
Commission (ORSANCO) person-
nel revealed some minor inconsis-
tencies among crews in sampling
methodology. These issues were
discussed in a series of field sea-
son de-briefings between EPA and
field crews; the Field Operations
Manual will be revised to address
resulting minor methods changes
prior to the 2005 field season.
Future newsletters will include more
detailed updates of the sampling ef-
fort, the people behind the nets, and
local media coverage.
Terri Jicha (EPA) demonstrating
pie collection techniques.
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