Enewsletter articles for Sudbury, Assabet, Concord Rivers Report Card Workshop and Staff Training

IAN helps kick off a Report Card for the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers

Participants stand around Bill Dennison who has his back to a wall. The wall has values of the watershed (such as history, beauty, and water supply) written on white index cards. Below each index card are multi-colored post it notes. People are smiling anAt the beginning of March, IAN staff traveled to Concord, Massachusetts to initiate a report card for the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers with OARS, a non-profit whose mission is to protect, improve, and preserve the rivers, their tributaries, and watersheds. Two one-day workshops were held at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge overlooking the Sudbury River. The first day was with a fairly large group of stakeholders and the second day was with a smaller, more technical group to prioritize data needs. Participants discussed values of, and threats to each river, and identified potential indicators of river health. The remainder of the week was spent with the OARS staff to conduct report card training sessions, and kickoff their report card process. IAN will continue to work with, and support the OARS staff as they work to develop the report card over the next 12-18 months.

The Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers: Developing a Report Card Stakeholder Workshop Newsletter

The cover of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers Stakeholder Workshop Newsletter showing a landscape photo at the top, a map to the right, 3 photos at the bottom with text in the middle.Earlier this year, Bill Dennison and Brianne Walsh traveled to Concord, Massachusetts to initiate a report card for the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers with OARS, a non-profit whose mission is to protect, improve, and preserve the rivers, their tributaries, and watersheds. This workshop newsletter highlights two stakeholder workshops held at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on February 28 and March 1, 2018. The initial workshop elicited what stakeholders value about the rivers, and subsequent workshop focused on how to measure those values, and where to find data. IAN will continue to work with, and support the OARS staff as they work to develop the report card over the next 12-18 months.

The Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord River system receives a grade of B

Massachusetts, USA. Congratulations to the team at OARS: For the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers on the release of their first report card! IAN worked closely with the OARS team throughout the report card process: facilitating the initial kick-off workshops, and consulting on the grading and final report card document. To learn more about the report card scores, and dig deeper into the data, visit: https://ecoreportcard.org/report-cards/sudbury-assabet-concord-rivers/