Bioassessments in Urban Watersheds and Waterways

When:	Mar 20 & 21, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where:	City of Littleton Service Center 1800 West Belleview Avenue, Building No. 1.
Cost:	$595 (includes class notes and field workshop)

What You Will Learn:
This short course is designed for engineers, managers/decision makers, biologists, ecologists, and environmental scientists involved in watershed management, water resources and/ or stormwater management. Presentations and field practice sessions will provide insight into the design and execution of biological assessment activities to develop bio-assessments of waterways. This course will teach how the initial bio-assessment design has to involve and consider the interests of stakeholders, regulatory compliance, and scientific and technical realities. It will describe methods and design options that need to be used to meet study objectives that include sampling methods and data analysis procedures needed to assess the health of a stream, river, and other bodies of water.

Emphasis will placed on designs appropriate for the assessment of wet weather effects. Issues that will be examined include identification and definition of reference areas, selection of organisms sampled, habitat-specific and organism-specific sampling, integration with physical and chemical measurements, data analysis, and reporting of the findings. Tentative schedule for the class is:

Thursday, March 20:
8:00 Introductions (faculty and students)
8:30 – 10:00 Defining objectives in the context of target watershed characteristics
10:00 – 10:30 Break & Questions
10:30 – 12:00 Designing the bio-assessment – what, where, when, and how!
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Sampling procedures for aquatic organisms
2:00 – 2:30 Break and transport to field site
2:30 – 5:00 Field practice w/ refreshments

Friday, March 21:
8:00 – 9:00 Stormwater issues in bio-assessments
9:00 – 10:30 Time-scale toxicity testing
10:30 – 11:00 Break & Questions
11:00 - 12:00 Data processing and analysis
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 Analysis and interpretation of bio-assessment data
2:30 – 3:00 Break & Questions
3:00 – 4:30 Integrating bio-assessments in designs and watershed management programs.
4:30 – 5:00 Concluding remarks & course assessment

Instructor:
Dr. Edwin E. Herricks is a Professor of Ecological Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His areas of expertise include aquatic ecology, bio-monitoring, ecosystem management, and ecologically relevant engineering design. He has vast experience throughout the United States and other countries in the identification, assessment, and restoration of the adverse effects of man's activities on streams, rivers, lakes and their watersheds. Dr. Herricks has consulted widely for local, state, and federal governments. He has regularly served on National Research Council panels addressing a range of environmental issues. Herricks currently is an advisor to a number local, state, and federal agencies and has participated in educational and management programs in the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia, France, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan.