Santa started her annual presentations by acknowledging that every one the BWS volunteers deserved a gift for giving of their valuable time and expertise to the group. Please know that it is sincerely appreciated.
But Santa, as in previous years, chose a few gifts to celebrate and recognize an event or occurrence that was memorable to individuals over the past year. Or at least it will be after this party!
Dick Stubbs & Liz Champagne
Dick is an integral part of the Bowser Pod stream and 6 PPD-Q sampling crew, he has been a BWS volunteer for almost 2 years, starting just when the Bowser Pod began stream sampling. He is a long time Bowser resident, very community active and knows the territory well. He is also a Lead for the sampling crews. Liz is very new to the organization but keen to get out and into the creeks, innocent to the ways of citizen science.
So as is the BWS practice, a new member is sent out with a more ‘seasoned’ Lead. This is very wise on many levels as one never knows what situation might arise or what may be encountered on a seemingly routine sampling day! There was just such a fall day when Dick and Liz made their way to a Bowser sampling site alongside a creek where a variety of salmonids were returning to spawn. As it happens there was a rather unexpected, and one might say surprising, occurrence.
As they approached the site they could detect a somewhat familiar fishy odour emanating from the path leading to streamside. As they carefully moved closer, they came across a massive pile of fish carcasses – okay, maybe a dozen – blocking their path. Now what was this all about and how did it get here? Was it bears or convocation of eagles that had created the pile? Never mind that, bears could arrive at any moment – not to mention a swarm of wasps or hornets to feast on the fish carcasses! This is a MAJOR HAZARD, a dangerous health hazard! What to do – well of course the Lead knows the best course of action – safety first! Back away and declare the site off limits until the hazardous situation is rectified! Data collection will have to wait. Thus, was born BWS’s first BIOHAZARD TEAM! Well, that team needs a kit and that is Santa’s gift to Dick & Liz!
Sue Vince, Isolde Winter and Jackie Ainsworth – Data Queens
Santa has called these three amazing women up here tonight to acknowledge and celebrate their often overlooked BWS work. Sue has been a stalwart member on the Royston stream monitoring team for over 3 years, and involved with benthic invertebrate sampling. Jackie and Isolde have had the task, some may say unenviable, of trying to keep their partners from losing their lives to BWS. BUT THAT ISN’T REALLY THE REASON THEY ARE UP HERE tonight!
All three have contributed to BWS in a different ‘behind the scenes’ capacity. Their chosen task requires isolation, quiet concentration, attention to detail and many hours viewing an unforgiving screen. There is no reflective vest or hip wader, it is not the sexy swashbuckling job, such as stream transects and well level monitoring. BUT without these women absolutely everything BWS does would never become publically available. Have you guessed what that job is yet?
It is data entry and quality assurance! That’s right; all those scribbles taken down in books and on scraps of paper from onsite observations and readings have to be transcribed. The accurate information has to make its way onto the computer in a manner that can then be understood and makes sense!
Really what that looks like paper scraps, they and make it look like a spreadsheet! Okay maybe that is sexy!
Santa feels a type of uniform and safety gear might make these women feel a little more part of the BWS team. And with a team title of their own: The Data Queens.
Paul Anders – The Watershed Wonder
Paul has been an active BWS member for four years and has been a Board member for two. In all his time with us the operative descriptor for him is ‘ACTIVE’.
He has been very involved with most facets of our work. He is a Lead for stream water quality sampling for all three Pods. He was the most active BWS volunteer for the Trent River mapping project, braving the wild waters of the Trent in spring. Paul is also Mike’s right hand man when it comes to stream flow measurements, again ‘deep’ in the thick of things. And just this year he took the lead for a new project affectionately known as the ‘Timbit trials’, actually, not really Timbits, but rather HOBO TidbiTs; little gadgets that take continuous temperature measurements. Again, this involved placement (and retrieval) of these devices in deepwater pools. When Paul takes on a responsibility or task he is ‘all in’, no half measures no shying away from difficult challenges. Needless to say, most all of these chosen tasks are very physical, involving swiftly moving water, deep pools and challenging terrain just to get on site!
There are a couple of instances that come to mind that give a sense of Paul’s physicality. He was helping Mike take flow measurements and the creek conditions were such that he slipped and went down in the creek, water rushing into his chest waders. Now this can be extremely dangerous if the waders fill – a person can get caught in the flow and be carried downstream. BUT NOT Paul – he literally bounced back up and only suffered one soggy boot and wrinkled toes. On another occasion he was leading a group through some heavily forested underbrush and again went down, encountering a sharp object that gave him a nasty gash in his thigh. This would have sent most of us home to nurse the wound. NOT Paul – once again he bounced back up, got bandaged (I think mostly to avoid a bloodstain on his pants!) and lead us off for a debrief at the FBI! Indeed, some might say Paul is accident prone, but NO. He is simply a man of action, aware but unafraid of the elements with the knowledge he will always bounce back!
Now in a serious effort to keep Paul safe in the watersheds Santa has created an aid which we hope will go the distance to keep Paul – our Watershed Wonder – safer in the creeks! Here is your wading staff with safety cues!
The Queen of Refundables – Lise Laguë
Refundables are our largest source of revenue to run our programs, purchase all the monitoring equipment we need and pay professional consultants. While many volunteers help sort cans and bottles, none of this would happen without the tremendous commitment, coordination and guidance of one person: Lise Laguë. Lise collects the refundables from our donors, schedules sorting ‘parties’, makes sure we know the appropriate place for each of the many forms of drink containers, and keeps an impressively precise tally. All with great humour and a Merci treat!
The Twisted Staff Gauge Award, or the ‘All Round BWS’er Award’
This is already the third year presenting the coveted Twisted Staff Gauge Award – fondly referred to as the All Round BWS’er Award. It is given to the volunteer who has demonstrated diligence, flexibility, generosity, and above all, amazing good humour throughout the year!
This year’s recipient is Marie Purcell. Marie is leader of the Royston Pod for the stream monitoring program. She has been involved with stream sampling almost since the inception of the Royston Pod sampling. She has set schedules and has been the Lead on the majority of the sampling days. She ensures safety protocols and looks after the equipment maintenance. And does it all with quiet understatement.
We are very happy to celebrate her! Many thanks Marie and Congratulations!