Tippecanoe Environmental Lake & Watershed Foundation Inc

Programs: Watershed management: the upper tippecanoe river watershed is 236 sq. Miles in parts of 3 counties and contains more than 60 lakes and streams. Over the past 20 years, we have identified more than 300 sites where improvements would benefit water quality. We have partnered with many organizations and landowners to complete >190 of these projects. Recent projects include: (1)healthy shores initiative encourages installation of glacial stones and native plants on our lakeshores. (2) wetland restoration projects filter sediment and nutrients. (3) soil health-best farm practices are installed to keep soil in place, reduce fertilizers, and trap runoff. Pollution projects completed in the last 4 years have reduced by pollution by 30,000 tons of sediment per year and prevented the growth of 814 million pounds of weeds and algae.

education & outreach: activities on the land ultimately affect our lakes and streams, so water quality is ultimately about people. It's the choices they make and the actions they take that truly make a difference; therefore, education is a key role in our efforts. We directly reach more than 3,000 people through events and programs annually, including the river school for 600 high school freshman, the northern in lakes festival & watershed tours and workshops. We communicate with the public via website, facebook and printed and e-newsletters. We won the 2012 governor's award for environmental excellence for our www. Clearchoicescleanwater. Org campaign. More than 5,000 people have taken a pledge to make clear choices for clean water.

water monitoring: testing water quality is important for showing improvement or decline and finding new problems and sources. We have a monthly stream monitoring program that focuses on the water chemistry and flow, and we intend to maintain this data collection long term. Every 5 years, we conduct a biological assessment of the inflowing streams in the watershed. Nine of the 10 sites have shown significant water quality improvement in the last 15 years. In addition to these monitoring efforts conducted by staff and scientists, we train and support a network of volunteer stream monitors.