August 27, 2021 News
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Upcoming Events
The River Mile Community Gathering
"Crayfish Natural History Survey"

Wednesday September 22, 2021
3:30 to 4:30 PM Pacific Time
Presenter:
Christopher A. Taylor
Lead Scientist and Curator of Crustaceans

The North American crayfish fauna is the richest in the World. When coupled with their significant ecosystem impacts, the conservation of this unique fauna should be of upmost importance. 

Pacific Northwest Citizen Science Summit
October 26 and 27, 2021
9:00 am to Noon
Virtual

Calling all citizen scientists and program managers! Several regional agencies and organizations have partnered to convene the first-ever Pacific Northwest Citizen Science Summit.

Do you participate or manage a project or program that engages community members to collect and analyze information? Whether it is a small or large effort and regardless of the focus we want you to attend a landmark event to discover opportunities to collaborate and amplify cumulative impacts.

The overall objective of the summit is to connect citizen science practitioners and managers for the purpose of creating partnerships and synergies between projects. By working together, we will be more effective than working alone. Specifically, the summit has the following goals:
  • Bring awareness of existing programs and share successes
  • Enhance communication and collaboration between programs
  • Share strategies and tools for starting and maintaining a program or project, participant retention and the benefits of launching new programs
  • Highlight best practices and data standards
  • Facilitate a discussion about formalizing PNWCitSci.org as an organization to host future summits

The event will be held between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on October 26th and October 27th, 2021 via Zoom webinar.

Learn more and register today by visiting https://pnwcitsci.org

Subscribe to pnwCitSci+subscribe@groups.io to join a mailing list so that you’ll receive a future call for abstracts and agenda.

If you see that your project or program is not listed at https://pnwcitsci.org/ or you would like to have your project highlighted in the summit, contact Dr. Joey Hulbert at hulbe@wsu.edu.

If you are interested in sponsoring or promoting your citizen science program workshop at the summit, contact Troy Abercrombie at weeds@cascadepacific.org.

If you have general questions about the event, contact InvasiveSpecies@rco.wa.gov.
Public Meeting Notice for the Washington Invasive Species Council
The next meeting of the Washington Invasive Species Council will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
 
The agenda is available online.
 
Please note that this is an online meeting and you are encouraged to register in advance. Registration is available on Zoom. When registering, it is not necessary to disclose your name unless you plan to testify. Instead you can simply register as “anonymous”.
 
Testimony, correspondence, and questions about the board materials should be directed to Wyatt Lundquist, Board Liaison, at wyatt.lundquist@rco.wa.gov.
The River Mile Network Opportunities
Join the Crayfish Study and Contribute Valuable Data!

The River Mile Network under the supervision of Dr. Eric Larson, University of Illinois, is pleased announce that our new online data collection forms are ready for use!


Data from this project will help inform researchers about the species distribution throughout the Columbia River Watershed and beyond. 

The project leaders are especially interested in locating and identifying species below Dry Falls in Eastern Washington AND in the Okanogan River region. They believe there is an undescribed species of crayfish in those places which have not been documented (geolocated and photographed for identification). You and your students may be the first to record new species of crayfish!

Join the study by completing the on-demand virtual crayfish training. For those in Washington, Oregon or Idaho, once you have completed the virtual on demand training you can be added your state permit. The permit allows for year-round data collection.

Without the research permit data may be collected May 1 to October 31 in Washington with a valid state fishing license and in waters open to crayfish fishing.  

Anything you can do to help researchers will be of benefit!
New!
Crayfish Study Data Collection Forms are Live!
Data Collection Forms
We use Survey123, a tool in the ArcGIS suite of mapping software and applications for the collection and storage of data. The purpose of this technology is to collect real-time data without the need for additional GPS equipment.

We have 2 forms from which to choose. One form is shorter and requires less data. The other form is longer and has more required data and a variety of optional data choices.
Practice Crayfish Data Collection and Submission

There is also a training data submission form for the Crayfish Study; it looks nearly identical to the real form, but data is not stored in the same database or map. You can use this form yourself and share it with your students so they can practice collecting and submitting data.

Volunteer Opportunities with The River Mile Network

There are a number of volunteer opportunities to help The River Mile Network. As the network continues to grow it is getting harder for a few people to make everything happen.

  • 2022 Crayfish Conference Chair
  • Washington State Coordinator
  • Watershed Facilitators
  • Development Assistant--Finance
  • Development Assistant--Online Library
  • Development Assistant--Website
  • Newsletter Editor

In addition, we are looking for persons or groups that are willing to test new materials.

If you are interested in helping The River Mile in any of the above opportunities, please email us!
Special Opportunity
Partners in Science: Experience a Career Changing Opportunity — and Get Paid to do it!
October 6, 2021
4:30-5:30 PM Pacific Time
Washington Science Teachers Association (WSTA) and The Murdock Trust are joining to bring you an informational webinar on a fantastic PD. 

Partners in Science: Experience a Career Changing Opportunity — and Get Paid to do it!
When was the last time you had a professional development experience that was specifically designed with the science teacher in mind? A professional development opportunity where you can see yourself as a scientist and an integral part of a scientific community? Where you get to experience the processes of science that we try to provide for our students?
The Murdock Charitable Trust recognizes the importance and value of science education and the importance of transformative experiences around science research and education. The Partners in Science Program has been such a transformative experience for over 600 science teachers for over 30 years.

News to Know
Science News
from research organizations

Protect habitat ‘stepping stones’ to help species cope with climate change
Date: August 26, 2021
Source: University of Liverpool
Summary: Safe passages for species adapting to climate change aren't always being protected, a new study warns.
The River Mile Website
Practice Crayfish Data Collection and Submission
Use this form yourself, share it with your students and have them “collect” practice data and practice submitting using this Survey123 Training Form.

You can view your practice data on this map.

Have an upcoming event
you'd like us to promote?
Our network partners are always on the move. If you would like to see your next event in our quarterly newsletter, please email us at Newsletter Submissions

Want to see it on The River Mile's website?
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