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1) Alabama Water Watch Profile
2) ADEM Teaming Up With Montgomery & Mobile Television Stations
3) Black Belt Birding Trail Breaks Ground
4) Land Trust of North Alabama Preserves More Land
5) Mobile Register Mercury Series Online
6) BEN Notes: WCamp McDowell Seeking EE Instructors, 2005 "Dog Paddle" this Weekend, Shoals Solar Symposium, Summer Vehicle Emissions Testing Schedule Online, New Websites: Water Smart and Alabama's Freshwater Game Fish

1. Alabama Water Watch Profile

Earlier this month, Alabama Water Watch held it's annual meeting at Camp ASCCA (http://www.campascca.org ) near Alexander City.  One of the strongest and most diverse volunteer water monitoring groups in the nation, the following are some of the "vital statistics" about this remarkable group.

• Seventy-seven (77) citizen groups from nearly every major watershed in Alabama submitted water quality data to Water Watch in 2004.
• In 2004, Eighty-four (84) training sessions were attended by 407 people.  Eighty-three (83) percent of the sessions were conducted by or with citizen trainers. Trainings included water chemistry, bacteriological and stream biomonitoring workshops.
• Since 1993, Water Watch has received over 32,000 water chemistry and 6,530 bacteriological data records.  Approximately 1,700 sites have been monitored on 600 waterbodies.
• In the organization's first 10 years, more than 200 citizen groups and 4,000 certified monitors have participated.

To learn more about Alabama Water Watch and how to become a part of this impressive movement, go to http://www.alabamawaterwatch.org.

2. ADEM Teaming Up With Montgomery & Mobile Television Stations

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), in conjunction with television stations in Montgomery (WSFA-Channel 12) and Mobile (WKRG - Channel 5) have launched an environmental educational effort aimed at educating the public about nonpoint source pollution.  The educational project provides viewers with environmental and earth science information during the local weather section of the newscast. Participation by local meteorologists is helping inform large segments of Alabama's population on a nightly basis.

To learn more about this innovative environmental education program got to :
WKRG's Watersheds- the Coastal Connection  - http://wkrg.iewatershed.com
WSFA's Taking Action for Clean Water - http://wsfa.iewatershed.com

Or call Patti Hurley with the ADEM Office of Education and Outreach at 334-394-4350.

3. Black Belt Birding Trail Breaks Ground

On June 15th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Alabama Department of Conservation signed an agreement to construct birdwatching facilities at the Holy Ground Battlefield (a site about 25 miles due west of Montgomery).

The new site is the first location to be developed for the "Black Belt Birding Trail."  This project  is modeled after the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail in Mobile and Baldwin counties and the North Alabama Birding Trail.  The trail in North Alabama, consisting of 50 sites in 11 counties, is set to officially open in September 2005.  To learn more about Alabama's Birding Trails go to - http://www.outdooralabama.com.

4. Land Trust of North Alabama Preserves More Land

The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama ( http://www.landtrust-hsv.org/ ) announced this spring the addition of 216 acres to their inventory of preserved property.

Several acquisitions occurred recently including a 130 acres farm in Limestone County that will still use portions of the area for agricultural use, a 60 acre tract in Madison County, 40 acres in an area called 'The Narrows" on the old Boys Scout Space Walk atop Green Mountain, and 10 acres on Wade Mountain adjacent to Huntsville City and Land Trust property.

Alabama's oldest land trust, The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama has protected  and preserved more than 3400 acres since 1987.

5. Mobile Register Mercury Series Online

The Mobile Register's coverage of the McIntosh mercury story is now online at http://www.al.com . To access the entire series go to: http://www.al.com/specialreport/mobileregister/mercury/

6. BEN Notes: Camp McDowell Seeking EE Instructors, 2005 "Dog Paddle" this Weekend, Shoals Solar Symposium, Summer Vehicle Emissions Testing Schedule Online, New Websites: Water Smart and Alabama's Freshwater Game Fish

Camp McDowell Seeking EE Instructors - Camp McDowell is seeking Environmental Education instructors.  To learn more about the positions, call or email Maggie Wade Johnston at 205-387-1806/ maggie@campmcdowell.com.   More info can also be found at: http://www.campmcdowell.com/cmec/position.asp

2005 "Dog Paddle" this Weekend - The Dog River Clearwater Revival's "Dog Paddle" fundraiser will be held this Saturday, June 25th  - starting at 8:30 AM at Luscher Park in Mobile.  A truly fun event, visit Dog River's website at http://www.usouthal.edu/geography/fearn/DogPad05.html

Shoals Solar Symposium - Solar Energy is back!  So find out the "latest" solar energy news and technology at the Shoals Solar Symposium, June 28 and 29th, at the Florence/Lauderdale Public Library in Florence, Alabama.  For more info call 256-767-2909 or 381-2526.  The event is hosted by The Shoals Environmental Alliance and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Summer Vehicle Emissions Testing Schedule Online - If you live in Jefferson and Shelby counties, you can "do your share for clean air" by getting your vehicle tested for free.  The Alabama Partners for Clean Air has posted their Vehicle Emissions Testing Schedule at: http://www.alabamacleanair.com/vets.html

New Websites: Water Smart and Alabama's Freshwater Game Fish  - Here are two newly found websites that may be of interest to BEN readers:

Alabama Freshwater Game Fish - http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/fish
Water Smart - http://www.water-smart.org