This is the 15th year of the Dip-In, and the three week event in June and July continues to demonstrate that volunteers can collect quality data, thanks to the participation of programs and individuals such as you. If you haven't participated in the past , maybe this is the time to consider that volunteer participation in the Dip-In is more than a feel-good event or only relevant to lakes or to other programs: it can be a serious assessment of change in North America's waterbodies - and that is important.

The Dip-In is a network of volunteer programs and volunteers, each supplying the data for state and local programs and, together with all the other Dip-In participants, gathering and providing continent-wide (and world-wide) information. Because of long term participation by volunteer programs, we now have 1,876 waterbodies with 5 or more years of data. Of those waterbodies, 202 were exhibiting significant levels of change. Are changes in 11% of North America’s waters significant? It might depend on whether it is "your" lake or stream that is changing. The Dip-In allows you to see how your waterbody is faring relative to neighboring bodies in other programs.

For more information, see the Secchi Dip-In website.

The Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI) is pleased to host a series of free regional workshops focused on implementing conservation action for grassland species of greatest conservation need. WBCI welcomes local and regional partners who are actively involved in implementing grassland bird conservation. Registration is free and lunch is provided.

Workshops will be held at the following locations:
July 29, Ashland; Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, 29270 Cty. Hwy G
July 30; New Richmond; WI Indianhead Technical College, 1019 S. Knowles Ave.
July 31, Wisconsin Rapids; Wild Horse Saloon, 9031 Cty. Rd. WW
August 13, Horicon; TBD
August 14, Dodgeville; Folklore Village, 3210 Cty Hwy. BB

To register, fill out the registration form and return it to Noah Balgooyen by July 23, 2008.

An 8-hour bioBlitz to celebrate the diversity of animal and plant life at the Wert Family Nature Preserve. Activities include species identification, nature activities for all ages, and nature walks. The event is free and open to everyone.

For more information, see the West Wisconsin Land Trust website.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has established a statewide recovery program for the endangered Karner blue butterfly. The first tasks for this program involve establishing baseline population estimates. These estimates will be used to determine the necessary management actions needed to get the populations of the Karner blue to the goals established in the federal recovery plan.

The Recovery Team is seeking volunteers to assist in this monitoring and help get this recovery program off to a good start. Monitoring will involve repeatedly surveying sites with known Karner blue populations to determine when the start and peak of the flight season occurs. This information will be compared to more detailed sampling done at the recovery properties to estimate population size using a methodology called Distance. The survey information collected this year will feed directly into the property level management plans and used to determine recovery actions in the next few years.

For more information about how you can help recover the Karner blue in Wisconsin contact the Karner Blue Recovery Coordinator Bob Hess at Robert.Hess@Wisconsin.gov. To learn more about the Karner blue you can visit the following sites: http://dnr.wi.gov/forestry/karner/learnmore.htm, http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/insect/karner.htm, and http://www.fws.gov/endangered/i/I0Q.html.

Calling All Wetland Specialists - Seeking Information on Growing Season - Wetland ecologist Ralph Tiner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is compiling observations on the start and finish of the growing season across the country. To participate, send observations to Ralph_Tiner@fws.gov. Put "Growing Season Observations for _______ (specify area)" in the email subject line. For each observation, list species, observed feature, observation date, general habitat (wetland or upland type), and site location (town, county, state).

Freshwater Future

Freshwater Future builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. They work toward this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Through these efforts they work with over 1,800 grassroots watershed groups and citizens to protect and restore the rivers, lakes and wetlands in their communities.

Freshwater Future has Requests for Proposals for the Spring and Fall 2008 funding cycles now available on their website. To view them and receive more information, see http://www.freshwaterfuture.org/requestforproposals.html.

Funding Opportunities for Local Monitoring Groups

A page of grant opportunities maintained by Wisconsin's Citizen-Based Water Monitoring Network: http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/level2/funding.html

Philanthropy News Digest RFP Bulletin

A link to additional RFP's in the environmental field: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_environment.jhtml

Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin Besadny Grants

The C.D. Besadny Conservation Grant Program promotes the responsible stewardship of Wisconsin's natural resources at the local level by providing matching grants for small-scale, natural resource projects and programs. Grants awarded through this program range from $100 to $1,500. Grants must be matched 100% by recipient organizations either through cash or in-kind donations. Application deadline is January 15 of the year in which the grants are awarded.

See the grant website for more information