This project seeks to establish a framework to coordinate efforts among watershed organizations using or planning to use report cards as outreach tools. This project also seeks to develop clear and consistent guidelines and protocols for the development and implementation of report cards by watershed organizations. Protocols will be developed and training provided for sampling and monitoring methodology, data analysis, and science communication.

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The National Park Service is carrying out assessments of the natural resource condition (NRCA) for nearly 300 of the National Parks throughout the country deemed to have significant natural resources. This project, to assess condition of Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia, is a synthesis project aimed at collating and synthesizing all available data to assess current status and trend for each metric, combining these into an overall framework.

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We strive to inspire future scientists and increase awareness about environmental issues. We believe that new media is a integral part of achieving these goals. Therefore, we have launched an IAN/EcoCheck channel on YouTube. This channel hosts environmental science videos created by UMCES faculty, staff, and students.

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Bay Backpack provides educators with information about funding opportunities, field studies, curriculum guides and lesson plans related to environmental education. The website and project seeks to help educators find the tools they need to give their students Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, or MWEEs.

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Empirical models were developed at South Carolina beaches and estuaries to create daily forecasts of bacterial water quality for use as decision support tools. These tools predict exceedance of bacteria criteria using integrated monitoring data, remote sensing, and meteorology information. The models developed for beach areas used precipitation data from a rain gauge network, tide data, and qualitative weather information to predict criterion exceedance.

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A partnership between the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has been formed to develop an effective monitoring strategy to evaluate and communicate the efficacy of the projects funded through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund (CBTF).

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The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is a unique regional partnership that has led and directed the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay since 1983. IAN embedded staff maintain and update the CBP web page, keeping data and content new and interesting and ensuring proper functionality.

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This report card provides grades for the three tidal regions of the Patuxent River estuary, located on the Western Shore of Chesapeake Bay. The grades are based on six ecological indicators: dissolved oxygen, water clarity, chlorophyll a, phytoplankton community, benthic community, and aquatic grasses.

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This project developed conceptual diagrams related to the final reporting of ecosystem-based management tasks for the Bird’s Head region of West Papua, Indonesia, and provided science communication training to staff involved in management of the marine protected areas in the region.

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This report card summarizes 2008 water quality results, which are based on data collected by the Severn Riverkeeper Program. This report card helps to clarify the Severn's health, and provides instructions on what individuals can do to improve its condition.

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