Dear Stream Team Family,
Just like that, the end of 2021 is upon us! This past year we had much to celebrate – resumed trainings, new groups forming around the state, and Texas Stream Team turning 30.
Texas Stream Team virtually celebrated the programs 30th anniversary on October 12-14, at Stream Team Fest 2021. This special event gathered current and future citizen scientists, partners, and trainers in one space to learn about the program, interact with Texas Stream Team staff directly, and celebrate the many successes accomplished over the years. Thank you to all speakers and attendees who helped make Stream Team Fest a success - we could not do it without you! In case you missed it, recordings for each of the three days are now live. Click on the button below to access the recordings.
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With 2021 coming to an end, Texas Stream Team has started to set goals for 2022. We would like to offer you all the opportunity to provide feedback on ways Texas Stream Team can continue to improve next year and beyond. All feedback is welcome and can be anonymously submitted here.
As the holidays near, we wanted to remind you all that Texas State University will be closed for the holidays from December 20-December 31, and will reopen Monday, January 3rd, 2022.
Continue reading to learn about other Texas Stream Team updates, partner events, and much more!
Sincerely,
Aspen Navarro
Texas Stream Team Program Coordinator
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Upcoming Trainings
Standard Core – San Marcos
January 23 | 10:00am – 1:00pm learn more >>
Standard Core – San Marcos
February 20 | 10:00am – 1:00pm learn more >>
Standard Core – San Marcos
March 20 | 10:00am – 1:00pm learn more >>
Riparian Evaluation – San Antonio
April 09 | 8:30am – 12:00pm learn more >>
E. coli Bacteria – Waco
May 14 | 10:00am – 1:30pm learn more >>
Advanced – Waco
August 13 | 10:00am – 2:00pm learn more >>
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Are you looking to become a Texas Stream Team Trainer? Reach out to the trainers hosting a training of interest to start your trainer training journey. Make sure to review and download our Trainer Enrollment Form first to track your progress!
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Texas Stream Team Names Dani Apodaca the 2021 Golden Secchi Award Winner
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Texas Stream Team has selected Dani Apodaca as the recipient of the 2021 Golden Secchi Award Winner for his significant, long-lasting contributions to our program over the past 30 years. For many years Dani has been running a one-man show to help us coordinate citizen science efforts for the entire Lower Colorado River Basin (basin), which spans 600-miles from the Hill Country to the Gulf of Mexico.
His dedication to Texas Stream Team becomes clear when looking at the scope and breadth of the work he has accomplished for our program. Citizen scientists within his group not only collect water quality data at approximately 100 sites across the basin but Dani also hosts Texas Stream Team trainings and helps our team mobilize newly trained citizen scientists to start actively monitoring. Read more>>
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MONITORING TIPS & UPDATES
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New Core Equipment Maintenance Guides
We are eager to announce a few of our newest resources available to our network of partners and citizen scientists - Texas Stream Team’s Standard Core and Probe Core equipment maintenance guides!
Follow the links below to access our general guidelines and tips for maintaining your Texas Stream Team Core testing kits!
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Tip: Forms and Resources
Texas Stream Team is always looking for ways to improve upon and create new resources to make participating in the program easier. For this reason, we ask that citizen scientists and trainers access our documents directly from our forms and resources webpage ensuring that you utilize the most up to date versions.
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Texas Stream Team Data Showcase
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Texas Stream Team is very fortunate to have 30 years (and counting) of wonderful and dedicated citizen scientists that help us gain a better understanding of our Texas water bodies through water quality monitoring. Because of our amazing citizen scientists, we hold a plethora of data and want to start showcasing this data in our newsletters every quarter to show data trends, tips, updates, and more!
Thirty Years of Citizen Scientist Activity
Below is a summary of our program’s metrics over the last 30 years as well as a snapshot of our 2021 activity.
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There was a 1,037% increase in Sample Sites between 1991 and 2020, from 153 sites to 1,740.
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Roundtrip Distance Travelled increased 175% from 20054 to 2006. (Note: Roundtrip Distance Travelled was not consistently tracked in the beginning of the program.)
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Total Time Spent Sampling started trending up in 2007, rising by 53% in 7 years.
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2021 Active Citizen Scientists per month is virtually the same as 2020 (243 versus 240).
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June, October, and March saw the most people trained, with 60, 48, and 46 new Citizen Scientists, respectively.
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There was a 6% increase in Active sites between January and October.
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Brushy Creek Watershed Data Summary Report
Every quarter, Texas Stream Team analyzes collected data in a specific watershed through Data Summary Reports. Texas Stream Team’s Data Summary Reports highlight trends, environmental factors, Texas Stream Team activities and more within the selected watershed. This quarter, the Brushy Creek watershed located within the Central Texas Hill County was selected.
Texas Stream Team citizen scientists monitored standard core water quality parameters and E. coli bacteria at three sites in the Brushy Creek watershed from March 2012 to January 2021. Parameters monitored included water and air temperature, specific conductance, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, pH, transparency, total depth, and E. coli bacteria. Monitoring for the Advanced Texas Stream Team parameters nitrate-nitrogen and orthophosphate did not take place in the Brushy Creek watershed during the period of record. Data from the three monitoring sites were analyzed and summarized for this report.
Texas Stream Team citizen scientists monitoring standard core and E. coli bacteria water quality parameters in the Brushy Creek watershed are encouraged to continue monitoring and consider pursuing the Advanced water quality monitoring trainings. Continuation of the ongoing monitoring is crucial due to the results presented here and the extensive urbanization occurring in this region of Texas.
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Brushy Creek watershed Texas Stream Team citizen scientist monitoring sites.
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Local environmentalists have sued the Army Corps of Engineers after the agency reissued a permit for a liquified natural gas (LNG) export plant. Read more>>
An analysis of roughly 135,000 watersheds reveals that large amounts of key pollutants come from human wastewater, not just agricultural runoff. Read more>>
The Service is announcing the proposed listing of the alligator snapping turtle as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and is also proposing a Section 4(d) rule to provide for its conservation. Read more>>
This article contends that environmental organizations vary in type, scale and purpose in ways that help stewards self-sort into the opportunities that align with their individual motivations and environmental concerns. Read more>>
A new study by a Texas A&M AgriLife research scientist makes the case for natural infrastructure. Read more>>
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The elusive, playful creature is even popping up in downtown Houston. Read more>>
From a distance, the new Credit Human building in San Antonio, looks fairly non-descript. You might notice the solar panels crowding the rooftop, but this is a credit union, after all, how interesting can it be? Step a bit closer though, and you’ll start to notice unusual details…very unusual details. Read more>>
Austin's Save Our Springs Alliance and a group of environmental scientists have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Pedernales River springs salamander as "endangered" or "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. Read more>>
You can’t squeeze water from a rock. But tree roots can — and they’re doing it more frequently than scientists previously thought, with a new study finding that bedrock is a regular source of water for trees across the United States, not just an emergency reserve during droughts. Read more>>
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To acknowledge our citizen scientists’ commitment to our program, Texas Stream Team is returning to an old tradition of introducing new citizen scientists to welcome them to the team as well as formally announce a farewell to our retiring citizen scientists.
We want to acknowledge your commitment to our program! Please reach out to us if you will be retiring from your service to Texas Stream Team at TxStreamTeam@txstate.edu.
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New to Texas Stream Team? Join Us!
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Are you interested in partnering with Texas Stream Team? Let us know!
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Mailing address:
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
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Visit us:
201 San Marcos Springs Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
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