Group brainstorms fields for streams and survey locations

Before we start assigning/seeking writers to describe the relevant streams and sampling locations, we wanted to make sure that we were asking them consistently for the "right" sort of information. Here are a list of "sorts' of information we want people to be thinking about when writing the content.

For a Watershed

• Map with the area highlighted
• Area covered (square miles) - i.e. 285 square miles
• Geographic description - i.e. USGS info digested for teachers/students
• Outlet - i.e. Outlet to Seneca River
• Big picture management issues - i.e. Discussion of sediment loading from mud boils, urban runoff and combined sewage to the lake

For a Stream

• Name of the stream - i.e. Ley Creek
• Watersheds/Basins - i.e. Ley Creek, Onondaga Lake, Oswego River and Lake Ontario (or is that too much?...)

For a Survey Location

• Name of the location - i.e. 7th North Street Bridge
• UTM/GPS Codes - i.e.
• Stream classification - i.e. "C(T)" See the DEC site
• Watershed/Basin - i.e. Ley Creek, Onondaga Lake, Oswego River and Lake Ontario (or is that too much?...)
• Notable local features - i.e. Cooper Industries factory nearby...notable because...
• Historical water quality story - i.e. Expect to see a lot of scuds, typically low DO, etc. (Les mentions that we should speak in terms of the Physical, Chemical and Biological parameters we measure)
  • Physical parameters, for example, we could indicate average streamflows recorded in cubic feet per second (cfs) over a five or ten year period.
  •  Chemical parameters, we could indicate the average "Overall Water Quality Index" measured at the site over a five or ten year period.  (Our reference for determining this index is the FIELD MANUAL FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING by M.K. Mitchell and W.B. Sapp.)
  • Under Biological parameters, we could indicate the "Macroinvertebrate Water Quality Rating" measured at the site over a five or ten year period (using the Save Our Streams methodology).. )
• Stream Order - 2nd order
• Years monitored - i.e. 1997 - 2008