16th Annual Maryland Water Monitoring Council Conference To Be Held

North Linthicum, Md. (November 15, 2010) — The Maryland Water Monitoring Council (MWMC) will hold its 16th Annual Conference November 18, 2010 at the Maritime Institute in North Linthicum, Md. The conference theme is Environmental Justice: Healthy Waters, Healthy Communities, and its goal is to bring together individuals from diverse groups who are interested in environmental justice, environmental issues and the application of sound science in water monitoring and decision-making.

The conference provides a forum where government employees, academics, business and industry, non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, local community activists and others can strengthen and achieve equality in environmental monitoring and water resource management through dialogue and cooperative learning.

The morning session will include talks by Vernice Miller-Travis, Vice Chair of the Maryland State Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities and Steward Pickett, Director of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-term Ecological Research Program. The conference will include a buffet, working lunch and additional sessions following lunch.

The session topics include: Monitoring Methods, Citizen Science and Stewardship, Stream Restoration, Climate Change Adaptation, Urbanization and Eco-hydrology: Stormwater Management and Beyond, Education and Outreach, Stream Health Assessments and Restoration Success Stories.

For more information, visit http://mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/MWMC/index_files/annual_conference.htm

The MWMC’s Board of Directors includes state, federal and local environmental agencies, private industry, members of academia and citizen organizations.

The Council’s objectives are to:

• Provide documentation of all of the varied monitoring activities that are taking place in the State of Maryland;
• Provide a forum for effective communication, cooperation, and collaboration among the individuals and organizations involved in monitoring;
• Promote the use of quality assured procedures for sample collection, data management, analysis and assessment;
• Facilitate the development of collaborative watershed-based monitoring strategies.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 461,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries, and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic, and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov