Monthly Archives: October 2016

Water Quality Monitoring Volunteers Honored at Annual Appreciation Day

Several volunteers were recently recognized for their service to the Beaver LakeSmart Program during the annual volunteer appreciation dinner held in September.  About 30 people joined together to celebrate their accomplishments and share their stories of success and challenges while participating in the Beaver LakeSmart Volunteer Monitoring Programs over the last year. Additionally, a lake team, a StreamSmart Team, and a volunteer all received special honors for their significant contributions to supporting water quality monitoring.

Beaver Lake Team of the Year: Tom and Christie Waggoner20160929_195817Tom and Christie Waggoner were recognized as the Beaver Lake team of the year.  Tom and Christie have been volunteers on Beaver Lake for the past two seasons, completing 16 monitoring events. They also hold leadership positions in the Master Naturalists and have been integral in helping us maintain communication and a working relationship with the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists.  Tom and Christie represent strong leadership in working with their neighbors and the public in promoting water quality protection of all of our waterways in Northwest Arkansas.

 

StreamSmart Team of the Year: Sidney Swonger, Ryan Petty, & Travis Edwards – War Eagle at Withrow Springs State Park20160929_195608

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Sidney Swonger, Ryan Petty, and Travis Edwards were recognized as the StreamSmart Team of the year, for their monitoring work on the War Eagle at Withrow Springs State Park.  This team came together in 2014 to continue monitoring that was started by previous volunteers.  Since beginning their volunteer service, the team members have gone out of their way to ensure monitoring is completed during each session.  They’ve also recruited new volunteers and done their best to promote StreamSmart among their peers and colleagues.

 

Beaver LakeSmart Volunteer of the Year: Bruce Pertle

20161019_143754editedBruce Pertle is well known among lake residents, master naturalists, and water quality monitoring volunteers due to his unending volunteer efforts and passion for Beaver Lake. As one of the first volunteers to join StreamSmart, Bruce has logged in dozens of hours attending trainings and completing monitoring.  Over the last four years Bruce has volunteered with two different teams monitoring three different Beaver Lake Watershed sites, Prairie Creek, Clear Creek, and Clifty Creek.  Bruce has been unwavering in his support of our volunteer monitoring efforts along with the efforts of other groups and organizations to promote awareness, public education, and environmental protection of Beaver Lake and its watershed.

I am grateful to all of our volunteers for their work and effort to support our volunteer monitoring efforts.  We could not do this without you!

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