This is a virtual meeting held annually to prepare partners for the upcoming water quality monitoring and sampling season.
Topics to be discussed:
The purpose of this meeting is to provide the opportunity for LPP partners to meet with LPP staff to delve into the details of the program changes announced in November, ask questions, and receive an update on the LPP staff's progress.
Attend via Microsoft Teams. Email Meaghan Hickey (Meaghan.Hickey@partner.vermont.gov) or Jim Kellogg (Jim.Kellogg@vermont.gov) to receive the link to join.
The LaRosa Partnership Program will be holding its annual spring training/orientation for partners on Friday March 29th, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM! This event will take place at the new Vermont Agriculture and Environmental Laboratory (VAEL) at 163 Admin Drive, Randolph Center, VT 05061.
Connect with your fellow LaRosa partners and be ready with any questions you have about the program. Jim Kellogg will provide an overview of the functioning of the LaRosa program for the benefit of our new partners, and Guy Roberts will be training partners on handling, logging, transporting, and delivering samples to VAEL. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.
This year's WUV and Lake Champlain Basin Program's Fall Watershed Groups Meeting is on 11/3/2018 at the Main Street Landing in Burlington. This conference is free and open to watershed groups, conservation districts, and partner organizations.
Topics will include analyzing water quality monitoring data, stormwater education and outreach, and preparing for panels and interviews. More information, including the agenda and how to register, is available here.
Annual WUV Meeting
Main Street Landing, Burlington, Vermont
Free. Pastries/Coffee and Lunch Provided
Spring is on the way and that means LPP spring training/annual meeting and a chance to connect with your fellow LaRosa partners and the folks who process the samples you collect. This year’s meeting will be held in the same place as last year – Rm 019 of the Hills building on the UVM campus - on April 6th from 10am to 1pm. The meeting will consist of the usual overview and greeting from Jim Kellogg and a training session on handling, pre-logging, transporting, delivering, etc of samples from Dan Needham. We will also hear a presentation from Kristen Underwood of South Mountain R&CS on use of the reporting templates she developed over this last season with time for questions to follow. As always, Jim will be providing a spread of snacks and refreshments.
Reports for the pilot year of the LPP Organizational Support Grant are due.
LPP partner participation has been responsible for translating water testing results into direct, on-the-ground actions. The LPP data have been used in the development of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution control plans, the identification and remediation of phosphorus pollution hotspots, and the documentation of priority subwatersheds for pollution control actions within VTDEC’s Tactical Basin Plans(TBP). The WMD recognizes the challenges the Partners face in securing funding to support the logistical aspects of water quality monitoring work. The funds awarded under this offering are intended to help fill this gap, for those groups whom are also working with the WMD and other partners in the implementation of “on-the-ground” water quality improvement projects. In 2016, the WMD released its first RFP to provide currently enrolled LPP Partners support in monitoring the effectiveness of water quality improvement practices. With the initial year of monitoring under this grant complete, these reports, which will serve to demonstrate the impact water quality improvement initiatives have on Vermon't waterways, are eagerly awaited.
Reports should be completed using the templates developed by Kristen Underwood under contract for the DEC. Partners will use whichever of the five available templates relate to the projects they are monitoring and need submit only one final report.
Reports should be directed to Jim Kellogg
Jim Kellogg - LPP Coordinator
Environmental Scientist
Department of Environmental Conservation
Watershed Management Division-Biomonitoring and Aquatic Studies Section
1 National Life Drive, Main 2
Montpelier, VT 05602-35221
jim.kellogg@vermont.gov
(802) 490-6146
The LaRosa Partnership Program (LPP) was developed in 2003 with the purpose of helping lake and watershed associations and other monitoring groups across the State of Vermont implement new and/or ongoing surface water monitoring projects for waters in need of water quality assessment, by helping alleviate the financial burden of laboratory analysis costs.
Watershed associations submit yearly proposals to the VTDEC’s Monitoring, Assessment, and Planning Program (MAPP), to request capacity in the Vermont Agricultural and Environmental Laboratory (VAEL), to analyze routine water quality monitoring tests free of charge to the applicants. Awards of laboratory analytical capacity considers the priority for acquisition of new data in the areas proposed, the intended usage of the data, and likelihood of follow-up action. Over the years, sampling has included phosphorus, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, total suspended solids, E. coli bacteria, turbidity, alkalinity, conductivity, pH, and occasionally priority pollutants metals, or other compounds.
The LPP encourage citizen scientists to get out and see their streams, rivers and tributaries firsthand, stay informed and learn about water quality issues, and use water testing to identify where impacts are occurring. Additionally, each year, supported groups provide data and
summary reports to the VTDEC which are incorporated into the Vermont Integrated Watershed Information System.
These groups then work with the Watershed Management Division’s(WMD) watershed coordinators and other staff to seek grant funding to fix identified problems, effectively furthering the WMD’s primary mission to protect, maintain, enhance and restore the quality of Vermont’s surface water resources. In this manner, the LPP helps to build new watershed constituencies.
In many cases, the Partners participation has been responsible for translating water testing results into direct, on-the-ground actions. The LPP data have been used in the development of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution control plans, the identification and remediation of phosphorus pollution hotspots, and the documentation of priority subwatersheds for pollution control actions within VTDEC’s Tactical Basin Plans(TBP). The WMD recognizes the challenges the Partners face in securing funding to support the logistical aspects of water quality monitoring work. The funds awarded under this offering are intended to help fill this gap, for those groups whom are also working with the WMD and other partners in the implementation of “on-the-ground” water quality improvement projects. In 2016, the WMD released its first RFP to provide currently enrolled LPP Partners support in monitoring the effectiveness of water quality improvement practices.
For more information please click the link below to read the full announcement.
All proposals must be submitted electronically via email to David Pasco, david.pasco@vermont.gov, by February 14, 2018, 4:00 pm ET using the subject line “2018 LaRosa Partnership Program Organizational Support RFP.”
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC), through the Vermont Agency of Agriculture /Environmental Laboratory (VAEL) - aka LaRosa Laboratory, is pleased to make available to interested lake, river, and watershed associations sample analysis partnerships for the upcoming 2018 field season. The purpose of this program is to help volunteer watershed associations and monitoring groups implement new and/or ongoing surface water monitoring projects for waters in need of water quality assessment. Groups are encouraged to present an action plan that will highlight anticipated outcomes of their monitoring results.
For more information please click the link below to read the full announcement.
Watershed Coordinators: Please direct all completed RFPs to:
Jim Kellogg - LPP Coordinator
Environmental Scientist
Department of Environmental Conservation
Watershed Management Division-Biomonitoring and Aquatic Studies Section
1 National Life Drive, Main 2
Montpelier, VT 05602-35221
jim.kellogg@vermont.gov
(802) 490-6146
