SierraScape October - November 2003
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Excerpt from "Monitoring News and Notes" The Missouri Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Newsletter
The State of Missouri's Stream Team Program recently recognized 12 individuals or groups for their outstanding contributions to volunteer water quality monitoring. Two winners are from our own Eastern Missouri Group, Delwin Johnson and Leslie Lihou.
Delwin, a retired chemistry professor, became a Stream Team member in 2000 and has collected data from seven different streams in St. Louis, St. Francis and Washington counties. As Delwin collects his valuable water quality data, he also collects new volunteers by introducing them to water quality issues and the Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program. Strangers often stop by to watch and learn from Delwin when he monitors at five of his sites that are located in state and county parks. He demonstrates water quality monitoring to those who take the time to join him for a sampling event, including his grandson, middle school children, friends, college students, faculty, neighbors and cavers. He has given many presentations about protecting streams and the Stream Team program. In addition to all of this, he has been involved with getting the Missouri Public Interest Research Group involved with Stream Team litter pick-ups.
Leslie Lihou as been active in volunteer water quality monitoring with Stream Team # 1473 since 1994. Her sites are located on Fox Creek, one of the last remaining natural streams in St. Louis County. She is well known for coordinating monitoring events to raise the awareness of the importance of Missouri's streams and rivers. More recently, Leslie has been very active increasing public awareness about the importance of best management practices. Like many other areas of Missouri, large developments around Fox Creek and the City of Eureka have the potential to seriously threaten streams if best management practices are not used. One particular development had blasted away a hillside and sent rock down the hill into Fox Creek, filling in portions of the creek and destroying aquatic habitat. Due to citizen protest drummed up by Leslie's efforts, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources took enforcement action against the responsible parties, forcing them to remediate Fox Creek.
Three other awards went to Sierra Club members who are not in the EMG, Melody Torrey and Mark Osborn in the Osage Group and Jean Blackwood in the White River Group. Congratulations to all of the winners on their awards and hard work.