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Hi all,<br><br>
My organization (the Appalachian Forest Resource Center) is looking into
the feasibility of starting a volunteer monitoring program for invasive
species in SE Ohio. In preparation for this project I am surveying
those involved in invasives monitoring and control to find protocols,
BMPs, lessons learned, successes, volunteer involvement, concerns,
comments, etc...<br><br>
Take a look over the questions below. I would appreciate any input
on them you all could give. You can reply directly to this e-mail,
unless there is some discussion you'd like to share with the
list-members. Please feel free to forward this onto any other
interested individuals/lists.<br><br>
Thanks so much for any input!<br><br>
Rachel<br><br>
<br>
1.) How do you select and rank the locations and species you will
monitor?<br><br>
<br>
2.) Where do you work (public lands, national/state, private
lands)? How much land do you monitor? What land cover type
does this encompass?<br><br>
<br>
3.) Can you describe your monitoring program (i.e monitor along transects
or random sampling, etc)? Does it involve the use of
volunteers? If so, has this been a successful endeavor? What
sort of time commitment is involved from volunteers?<br><br>
<br>
4.) What is your control strategy (i.e. how do you determine where
you will focus efforts, mechanical vs. chemical)? Do volunteers
participate in it? Any successes? Will you generally try to
control small infestations before large, or vise versa?<br><br>
<br>
5.) Do you suggest any particular methods/materials/tools for monitoring
and controlling invasives?<br><br>
<br>
6.) Do you have any lessons learned form your program that you wouldn't
mind sharing?<br><br>
<br>
7.) Do you have any resources you'd be willing to share with us for
inclusion in a resource cd we are putting together and will distribute
(i.e. sample data sheets, protocols, materials, studies on validity of
volunteer collected data, other info on working with volunteers,
etc)?<br><br>
<br>
8.) Do you have any suggestions with individuals/organizations that would
be helpful for us to contact in the planning stages of our
program?<br><br>
<br><br>
For groups working specifically with volunteers:<br>
1.) How many invasives are volunteers expected to know and monitor for in
the field? What type of training do volunteers receive to assure
they will id the correct plants and follow protocols?<br><br>
<br>
2.) What is your volunteer turnover rate? How many dedicated
volunteers do you have and what sort of affiliation do they have (i.e.
church group, volunteer organization, hunting organization...)?<br><br>
<br>
3.) How does that compare to the total number of volunteers you have
had? Are you able to get all of your monitoring and/or control done
through volunteers, or does you staff have to augment volunteer
efforts?<br><br>
<br>
4.) What have you found to be the best way to engage volunteers and
promote public awareness (videos, news media, educational
events...)?<br><br>
<br>
5.) Has it been a worthiwhile endeavor to include local citizens in these
programs? Do you think their knowledge and awareness of invasives
and other environmental issues have increased?<br><br>
<br>
6.) Do you have any concerns with using volunteers for monitoring and/or
control of invasvies?<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<b><i>Rachel Orwan<br>
</b>Research Assistant<br>
Appalachian Forest Resource Center<br>
P.O.Box 21, Glouster, OH 45732<br>
740-767-2090<br>
<a href="http://www.appalachianforest.org/" eudora="autourl">www.appalachianforest.org<br>
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