2,000 Helping Hands: Wisconsin's Volunteer-based Citizen Lake Monitoring Network

Wisconsin has one of the largest and longest-running volunteer lake monitoring programs in the United States. With over 15,000 lakes in the state, there is a lot of water to be monitored, and not nearly enough professional staff to handle that workload. The Wisconsin Citizen Lake Monitoring Network is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Extension Lakes at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, and approximately 1,000 volunteers per year. Volunteers assist with monitoring the condition of lakes across the state, contributing data on water clarity, water chemistry, ice cover, aquatic invasive species, and more. Volunteers primarily input data themselves through an online database, and support staff are located throughout the staff to assist with trainings, volunteer questions, data entry issues, and more. Data are reported back to the volunteers in a variety of ways, including summary reports generated through an online, interactive data viewer.

Primary Presenter: Paul Skawinski, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (pskawins@uwsp.edu)

Authors:

Paul Skawinski, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point  (pskawins@uwsp.edu)