The 2006 Citizen-based Monitoring Program of the Year award was given to the Lake Koshkonong Wetlands Association (LKWA) for their bird monitoring efforts on Lake Koshkonong and adjancent habitats in support of their nomination of Greater Lake Koshkonong as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The LKWA organized teams of volunteer birders to document migratory and breeding bird use of the site throughout the year. They recorded large concentrations of migratory waterfowl and documented important breeding populations of Black Tern, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler and other species of greatest conservation need. As a result of this effort the site was approved by the IBA technical committee and was dedicated as an Important Bird Area on Sept. 16, 2006.

The 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for Citizen-based Monitoring Efforts goes to Roy and Charlotte Lukes for their long-term efforts to better understand and monitor the important flora and fauna of Door County. Roy and Charlotte have been active in organizing Christmas Bird Counts, regional coordinators for the Breeding Bird Atlas, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, the Inland Bird Bander's Association, the Wisconsin Botanical Club, and many other monitoring activities at the Ridges Sanctuary and other great places in Door County.

Most people know of Roy for his long running weekly nature column in various newspapers of the area. His columns documenting the flora and fauna of Door County have delighted and educated thousands of people throughout the years and for all of the above reasons Roy and Charlotte were recognized for a lifetime of Citizen-based Monitoring.

Tug Juday is being recognized for his long-term outstanding achievements in Citizen-based Monitoring. In 2006, Tug Juday was given the "Award of Volunteer Excellence" by the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership for over 15 years of dedication in monitoring water clarity and water chemistry on Anderson Lake in Vilas County. In 1996, Tug became a member of the "Century Club" for collecting more than 100 clarity readings on Anderson Lake. His passion for monitoring and maintaining good water quality began with his uncle, the late Chancey Juday, who along with E.A. Birge, were limnology pioneers and founders of the School of Limnology. Tug sent CLMN a thank you letter for the award, in it he said of volunteer monitoring - "It has made me, my children, especially Pat, grandchildren and great grandchildren feel a part of the Lake. Once I thought I at least partially owned the Lake. No more. Now it owns me." His passion, love and dedication to preserving our natural resources, especially our water resources, are inspiring. He has involved the next generations of the Juday family in water quality monitoring to make sure that protection of Anderson Lake is carried on.

Tug devotes his time, money and effort towards helping his community, whether it is the natural community or the Town of Land O'Lakes. The local library and Historical Society also benefit from Tug's generous spirit. For many years, Mr. Juday was the President of the Land O'Lakes Fish and Game Club. In that capacity back in the 1980's his support of the Self-Help Lake Monitoring Program enlisted many new clarity volunteers on lakes in Vilas County.

Established in 1978, LoonWatch is home to the oldest citizen-based monitoring program in Wisconsin, the Annual Lake Monitoring Program. Robert Green has monitored loons longer than anyone else in the program. His recordkeeping pre-dates LoonWatch beginning in 1975, thus Robert was a natural citizen monitor long before such a title existed. Lake residents call him "Grandfather Loon" for his protectiveness of the loons and his dedication to their conservation. In 2001, Robert received LoonWatch's Volunteer Recognition Award for his many years of service to LoonWatch and the loons of Wisconsin. After 28 years of submitting reports (never missing a single year) and 31 years of loon monitoring, in 2005 Robert contributed his last loon report to LoonWatch and passed on the responsibility of monitoring and protecting the Lynx Lake loons to his two sons.

For as long as he has monitored loons, Robert has also maintained ice-out records for his lake. He co-founded the Lynx Lake Property Owners Association, Vilas County, in 1985 and served on its original Board of Directors. Robert is an avid birder and has been a long-time supporter of Riveredge Nature Center participating in the bird club and birdathon events. Robert is a model volunteer whose lifelong dedication to monitor a species he loves should be a shining example for others in the state.

Rollie Alger is being recognized for outstanding achievements in Citizen-based Monitoring for 2006. Rollie has taken responsibility for monitoring the entire Deerskin River for water quality and invasive species and is a long-term LoonWatch volunteer, chairman of the Vilas County Aquatic Invasive Species Partnership Research Committee and a NatureMapping instructor. Rollie stepped forward to monitor the Deerskin River when grant money and volunteer effort were lean and continues with the work to this day. The Town of Washington and its Water Resource Task Force are deeply grateful to Rollie for his expertise and volunteer spirit and for his gift of this project to his community and to this state.

Paul Mahlberg of the Kangaroo Lake Association (Door County) has been named the 2006 Citizen Monitor of the Year. Paul has participated in water quality monitoring on Kangaroo Lake for the last 14 years and data from this effort has been important for DNR and association efforts to protect water quality at Kangaroo Lake.

Being a retired Botanist, Paul has taken an interest in monitoring and restoring plants at Kangaroo Lake. In 1995 Paul discovered eurasion water milfoil in the lake and has participated in a 10 year control and monitoring effort for this invasive species. In addition, Paul is taking the lead on a 3-year effort to monitor the restoration of bulrushes to this shallow water lake.

Paul is a recent graduate of the Lake Leaders Institute and a dedicated citizen who is always willing to dedicate time to this important resource.

Bryan Huberty has dedicated much of the last two years towards monitoring the restoration of the 1490 acre Zeloski Muck Farm. Bryan has spent countless hours training volunteers to lead monitoring teams active throughout the year in documenting which birds, butterflies, odonates, plants, etc. are present before and after restoration efforts. It is hoped that Bryan's work might serve as a model for other large volunteer-based restoration monitoring efforts in the upper Midwest.

Shirley Ellis is described as a "one-of-a-kind" super volunteer for monitoring and stewardship efforts of the Rock River Coalition, Madison Audubon Society, Prairie Enthusiasts, and the Friends of Cam-Rock and Lulu Lake Associations. Her efforts on the Zeloski Marsh Project and other Rock River Coalition monitoring projects are the major reason that the Rock River Coalition was named citizen-based monitoring program of 2005.

Shirley devotes most of her free time to studying, protecting, and restoring natural areas in southeast Wisconsin and for that she is recognized by the Citizen-based Monitoring Program in 2006.

Jon Johnson and his students at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School were awarded the 2006 Youth Monitors of the Year award for their work monitoring 4 different streams in their community. Each student spent a portion of their summer vacation time monitoring basic water quality indicators, macroinvertebrate sampling and even helped DNR crews with habitat and fisheries sampling. This information will be used by the DNR as part of a paired stream monitoring information in assessing the compatibility of other citizen-based monitoring data. Most importantly, the students learned to work in small groups to accomplish their specific site monitoring, and learned to coordinate with other student teams when sharing equipment and calibrating the meters. Transferable skills to any work or team venture.