Author: Anshome

CHEVY CHASE, MD – Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) officially launches its new Creek Critters smartphone app with a series of streamside events around the region hosted by a network of local partners—Creek Week, June 6 – 14, 2015. “We’re harnessing smartphone technology to get people involved in protecting their local streams,” said ANS Executive Director Lisa Alexander. “Thanks to the generosity of a long-standing ANS supporter – Dick Raines and the Raines Family Fund, this Creek Critters app will engage more citizen scientists in learning about stream health.” The new Creek Critters app is an easy way of engaging people in water quality monitoring and protecting local streams using smartphones. The app shows users how to find the small organisms that live in freshwater streams. It walks users through identifying these benthic macroinvertebrates, or creek critters, through a series of visual cues: Does it have a shell? Does it look like a worm? The app provides line drawings, photos, captions and other features to illustrate characteristics, other “easily confused with” critters and tolerance to pollution. A Stream Health Report is generated based on the user’s findings, and the report is added to a map once the user submits the data. Since the early 1990s, ANS has operated a Water Quality Monitoring program throughout Montgomery County and in parts of DC. It is one of the largest and longest-running citizen science programs in the country. More than 193 ANS volunteers gather data on the water quality of 29 local streams in the DC metro region. “It’s hard to point to a single ‘coolest thing’ about the app, but I think it is really cool that novices can successfully use a smartphone app to collect and identify common stream macroinvertebrates – and in the process, create stream health reports and submit and share their data,” said Gregg Trilling, ANS Environmental Education program manager. For a little more than two years the Creek Critters app has gone through several cycles of development, field trials, and revisions.  During Creek Week, ANS hopes to engage hundreds of people throughout the region in “Creek Critters” events that help them explore and learn about their neighborhood streams. Creek Week Events Listings Saturday, June 6, 2015Creek Critters Family Pond Program 10:30 am to 11:30 am Audubon Naturalist Society, Woodend Nature Sanctuary 8940 Jones Mill Road Chevy Chase, Maryland Rock Creek Conservancy Creek Critters Blitz 10:00 am to 12:00 noon Joseph’s Branch section of Rock Creek Closest physical address 11229 Dewey Road Kensington, Maryland Neighbors of Northwest Branch Creek Critters Blitz 9:30 am to 12:00 noon Northwest Branch Wheaton, Maryland Saturday, June 13, 2015 Audubon Naturalist Society’s Rachel Carson Conservation Park Creek Critters Blitz 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm Rachel Carson Conservation Park Brookeville, Maryland Little Falls Watershed Alliance:  Who is Living in the Creek? Creek Critters Blitz 10:00 am to 12:00 noon Little Falls Intersection of Little Falls Parkway and Massachusetts Avenue Bethesda, Maryland Rock Creek Conservancy Creek Critters Blitz 10:00 am to 12:00 noon Ray’s Meadow Chevy Chase, Maryland Groundwork Anacostia Creek Critters Blitz 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Watts Branch Washington, DC Friends of Accotink Creek:  Biological Monitoring and Creek Critters Blitz 9:30 am to 11:30am Lake Accotink Park Parking lot behind the Lake Accotink Park Administrative Building Springfield, Virginia Fairfax County Parks South Run RECenter: Creek Critters Blitz 10:00 am to 12:00 noon South Run RECenter Springfield, Virginia Sunday, June 14, 2015 Fairfax County Scott’s Run Nature Preserve: Creek Critters Blitz 2:00 pm to 4:00pm Scott’s Run Nature Preserve McLean, Virginia Rock Creek Hills Citizen’s Association: Creek Critters Blitz 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Silver Creek/Kensington Branch Kensington, Maryland To register for Creek Week events, visit anshome.org. Download the Creek Critters app for FREE from the Apple App Store for iPhone users or Google Play for Android devices. ### CONTACT: Leslie McDermott, Communications Manager, Audubon Naturalist Society, 301-652-9188 ext. 45, leslie.mcdermott@anshome.org

CHEVY CHASE, MD – Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) launches Communities for Clean Streams with a new interactive, mobile-friendly microsite – CleansStreams.anshome.org to support the people and partner organizations in the DC metro area working to protect and restore the region’s streams. “We want to facilitate a two-way flow of information and ideas online among individuals, communities and partners that support clean streams. By producing more data on stream health, and gathering more voices to speak up for clean water, we are in a unique position to help change individuals’ behavior and local policies to produce cleaner streams in every neighborhood. The Clean Streams website aims to grow clean water stewardship in communities throughout the DC region” said ANS Executive Director Lisa Alexander. With Communities for Clean Streams, ANS is working to grow the number of clean stream stewards and advocates in the region, influence local clean water policy and, inspire citizens to adopt clean water practices at home. The new microsite is a tool designed to support and inspire people and partners in clean stream stewardship, and to bring attention to the need for cleaner streams in the region. ANS launched another outreach tool to help engage people in protecting their local streams in June 2015 – the Creek Critters smartphone app. The app, that lets citizens conduct do-it yourself stream health testing, is prominently featured on CleanStreams.anshome.org. Version 2.0 of the app is expected to be released by October 1 and is free in the Apple App Store (iPhone users) and on Google Play (Android devices). “Version 2.0 provides more critter photos, simplifies the stream health report, and improves the mapping and data submission functions. We made these changes to enhance the user’s experience while testing water quality in local streams.” Said Gregg Trilling, ANS Environmental Education program manager. As part of the launch of ANS’s Communities for Clean Streams, individuals and partners are being offered a FREE, trial Clean Streams Membership which is valid through May 31, 2016. This trial membership offers many of the same benefits including program and shop discounts enjoyed by current ANS members. To get the FREE trial ANS Clean Streams Membership, learn more about the Creek Critters app and check out the new site, visit CleanStreams.anshome.org. # # # CONTACT: Leslie McDermott, Communications Manager, Audubon Naturalist Society, 301-652-9188 ext. 45, leslie.mcdermott@anshome.org

CHEVY CHASE, MD—Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) is one of this year’s recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation 2016 Good Neighbor Grants for its water quality monitoring, Communities for Clean Streams work. “This funding furthers the Audubon Naturalist Society mission of connecting people to nature, by enabling us to provide high school students with opportunities to further their academic careers and lead environmental stewardship projects in their own communities,” said ANS Executive Director Lisa Alexander. ANS was awarded a $15,000 Good Neighbor Grant by the Cooke Foundation this April. The selection process was very competitive. ANS was selected as one of seven organizations, from a pool of 148 applicants. With this funding, ANS will establish Clean Streams Academies at three Maryland public high schools this coming fall. Approximately 24 high schools students, 8 students in each high school academy, will spend ten weeks of intensive hands-on training and research on the science of water quality monitoring. The students will use the ANS Creek Critters app to learn how to find and identify the macroinvertebrate organisms that live in freshwater streams and are indicators of stream health. The students will identify threats to local water quality in their neighborhoods and create stewardship action projects to protect local waterways. The ANS Clean Streams Academy is intended for high school students with an interest in scientific careers. Through the academy experience, ANS environmental educators will provide students with background training, coaching, materials and support to carry out independent research and education projects. “The Audubon Naturalist Society’s Stream Science Academy provides students with an excellent opportunity for a hands-on science education,” said Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Executive Director Harold O. Levy. “It’s important to provide funding so that underprivileged students can participate in high-quality learning experiences that are critical for nurturing their aspirations in science.” To learn more about Audubon Naturalist Society’s water quality monitoring work, Creek Critters app and Communities for Clean Streams, visit CleanStreams.anshome.org. # # #CONTACT: Kelli Holsendolph, 301-652-9188 ext. 23, kelli.holsendolph@anshome.org

CHEVY CHASE, MD–Calling all superheroes! Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) is looking for a few good stream superheroes to join its Communities for Clean Streams. Meet Hydro Girl. Hydro Girl can reduce the evil effects of polluted runoff and development on local streams by bringing her community together. Her mobilization superpower helps win clean water wars. And, get to know Doctor Stream Strider too. Doctor Stream Strider can morph from a hard-nosed advocate for clean water policies into an expert community stewardship organizer in the blink of an eye. What’s more he has the power of multiplication; Doctor Stream Strider spawns other stream superheroes from himself! ANS is calling on community members, environmentally conscious businesses, local watershed, civic and homeowner groups, to become Stream Superheroes too. Here’s how. First, join ANS’s Communities for Clean Streams FREE online at CleanStreams.anshome.org. Join as a member or partner. Get access to information on streams and local watersheds, notices of upcoming stream stewardship events around the region and calls to action to protect local streams and watersheds. You’ll also find more on becoming a stream superhero, including creating your superhero name, ways to share your superhero stories, photo challenges and upcoming special superhero events. “We’re having fun with this superhero theme, but we know protecting local streams and watersheds is an important task,” said ANS Executive Director Lisa Alexander. “Community members and organizations are doing great deeds to defend local clean water every day. We want to celebrate those stream superheroes and inspire people to take action to protect local streams throughout the DC metro region.” ANS launched Communities for Clean Streams in September 2015 to support the people and partners in the DC metro region working to protect and restore the region’s streams. To encourage more eyes on the water quality of local streams, ANS launched the Creek Critters app last June as well. This FREE app (available from the App Store and Google Play) shows users how to find the small organisms that live in freshwater streams and walks them through identifying these benthic macroinvertebrates, or creek critters, through a series of visual cues. These critters help determine the stream’s health. To learn more about ANS’s Communities for Clean Streams, join FREE as a member or partner and to see the ANS Stream Superheroes Hydro Girl and Doctor Stream Strider, and find out ways to get involved, go to CleanStreams.anshome.org. # # # CONTACT: Kelli Holsendolph, 301-652-9188 ext. 23 (office), kelli.holsendolph@anshome.org