Gaithersburg, MD – The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) is starting 2019 off fresh with a brand new website (chesapeakemonitoringcoop.org). This website provides a platform to share CMC services and resources that have been developed over the past three years and are freely available. The CMC brings together a diverse group of people who monitor water quality to provide a greater understanding of Chesapeake Bay watershed health. The new website helps promote collaboration among monitoring groups throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay region.
The CMC has developed quality assurance project plans, standard monitoring operating procedures, and an interactive database for both data collectors and data users. “These resources were produced as the foundation for the CMC and meant to be shared with our partners,” said Liz Chudoba, CMC Program Manager at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. “This website provides the platform to explain and use these resources.”
The CMC offers participating groups much more beyond the developed tools and resources. Partners work closely with monitoring groups to determine which parameters best fit water quality questions, provide monitoring training workshops, format data for incorporation into a centralized data portal, provide access to the Chesapeake Data Explorer, and more.
The Chesapeake Data Explorer is the portal for all of the data collected by CMC monitoring efforts and connects that data with the Chesapeake Bay Program. “It is exciting to have a central location where volunteers, collaborators, and folks interested in stream monitoring can visit and learn about the fantastic resources CMC has to offer. From the database to training resources, the website is the place to go,” said Julie Vastine, Director of Dickinson College’s Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring.
The reason this website is so exciting is that it now brings all CMC communications together under one platform. “Communicating with our partners and stakeholders is important to the CMC project team” said Caroline Donovan, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “Having a user-friendly, content-rich website enables us to easily connect with CMC members across this large watershed.”
The CMC is not possible without the support from our partners across the watershed. “The website gives people the opportunity to become familiar with the CMC partners and supporters, which include scientists, volunteers, water resource managers, decision makers, and other groups who are working to make the Chesapeake Bay watershed a healthier place to live, work, and play. We are happy to share these groups and our work with the public on this new website,” said Danielle Donkersloot, Clean Water Program Director for the Izaak Walton League of America.
The CMC team is excited to share this new website with the Chesapeake Bay community. Check it out today at chesapeakemonitoringcoop.org!
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Founded in 1922, the Izaak Walton League of America (www.iwla.org) protects America's outdoors through education, community-based conservation, and promoting outdoor recreation.