Fowl River Shoreline Assessment

October 2009 - Thank you to all who participated in the shoreline assessment! We will post the results shortly.

 

 

What: Shoreline Assessment of Fowl River
Where: Multiple Locations
When: 730 AM Saturday, October 10
Who We Need: Volunteers with kayaks, canoes or small motorized boats
Volunteer Training—October 6 6pm @ Fowl River Community Center (5401 Fowl River Rd.)

Bring: canoe/kayak GPS unit, camera, life jacket, clothes you can get wet in and any extras of the above items!

For more info, contact ACF.

Tthis volunteer-led shoreline project will assess the relative health of Fowl River by looking closely at the physical and ecological conditions of the near shoreline and river. The assessment will be conducted by volunteers who will paddle the river looking at parameters such as erosion, stream and bank characteristics, invasive species and sedimentation. All of these characteristics will be able to be observed from a small boat.

This project will serve to educate the public as well as community leaders about Fowl River and the pressures it faces. The data can be used in the long-term to protect valuable habitat by identifying areas suitable for preservation, restoration or recreational use, and will provide decision-makers the tools needed to make sound policy decisions regarding the future growth and development of the areas surrounding Fowl River. The project will also seek to identify potential sources of pollution, including evidence of illegal dumping, sedimentation and erosion, septic system failure or other discharge sources. A central objective of this assessment is to generate a product that is useful to local decision-makers.

Volunteers will be assigned portions of the river to assess based on their paddling capabilities and time constraints. Each volunteer team will receive a package on the 6th  that will include data sheets for recording observations, maps, aerial photographs, clip boards, pencils and markers and any other needed supplies. Data sheets that will be provided include: invasive species datasheet with photographic key, water quality information sheet, and a points of interest datasheet which will be used to collect observations volunteers make along the shoreline or in the river. These can include but are not limited to: debris, degraded shoreline, discharge points, evidence of septic failure, or unusual odors. Volunteers will mark the location of these items on the map provided.