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MAAC Progress Report

So far this year, the MAAC has been successful in addressing current challenges within the Area of Concern and identifying where work is still needed. A sub-committee of the MAAC worked extensively to develop a local target for one of the habitat BUIs, which was also recently approved by the Ohio EPA. In addition, projects were recommended to the Ohio EPA regarding evaluation and assessment, BUI management (projects that move forward progress on BUIs), and habitat restoration. The Committee will continue to recommend projects as more work is done to assess the conditions in the AOC, based on what is needed to improve them within the conditions of the AOC framework. To stay current with all MAAC news, check out the website.

Save the Date for the 20th Annual Clean Your Streams Day!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Clean Your Streams Day! We look forward to celebrating 20 years of successfully removing debris from streams, riverbanks, and watersheds in Toledo and surrounding areas. Improving the aesthetics of the Area of Concern is one of the initiatives underway here. On the morning of September 17th, join hundreds of other volunteers in removing tons of trash from our local riverbanks. Since 1996, the number of volunteers on Clean Your Streams Day has grown significantly and the support for this event has gotten stronger and stronger. Last year, 971 volunteers removed over 13,000 pounds of trash in the 19th Annual Clean Your Streams Day. The more friends, family members, and colleagues you encourage to join us for this special day, the bigger impact we can have on our local rivers. Stay tuned for more details on Partners for Clean Streams’ website, including the opening of registration in early August.

DMDS Version 2.0 – New Modules & Updated Data

The Maumee Area of Concern (AOC) has a useful tool to assist the Committee, federal and state agency partners, and other stakeholders working in the Maumee AOC towards restoring Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs). The Data Management and Delisting System, or DMDS for short, has been online since late 2014. Partners in the region can use this online tool to drill down into the status of the BUIs, the projects related to the BUIs, and some of the data used to assess the conditions in the rivers compared to the specific targets set in the AOC program. Partners for Clean Streams, Ohio EPA, and our contractor, The Davey Resource Group, have been working behind the scenes to add new features and keep the site continually working well in the ever changing world of browsers and digital platforms.

The DMDS Version 2.0 now includes a Charting module that allows users to graph some of the BUIs data and compare it against the targets. There are new and updated projects in the system and more administrative tools as well. An updated Help section is almost done and new data will be uploaded soon to further “crunch” impairments against targets to help narrow in on the struggling areas and to focus the restoration work moving forward. You can access the DMDS Version 2.0 through the tabs and navigation on this website. And rest assured, we are already hard at work on Version 2.5. Watch for that later this year!

Feedback on the new website

A fresh new website. Packed with information. But we want to know if you like it. Can you find what you need quickly? It there enough information without being too much information? Does it work on your browser & mobile device? And, of course, we try to dot every “i” and cross every “t” but if you find a broken link or a typo, please let us know. We will continue to add more content so you will see it continue to change but we think we’ve covered the basics so far. As the facilitating organization assisting the Maumee AOC Advisory Committee, Partners for Clean Streams maintains this website and our own. You can use the Contact Us to send us feedback. If you can’t find what you are looking for on this website, you may want to try PartnersForCleanStreams.org too. We also have social media accounts focused on the Area of Concern program and the work within the Maumee AOC. Follow those on Twitter and Facebook @MaumeeAOC. You can also sign up for a new e-newsletter that we will be launching later this spring by using the form under the Get Involved section.

A Full Committee & a Full Plate

The Maumee AOC Advisory Committee begins 2016 with many new members. The Committee has 16 members, a full slate, from 4 different sectors in the community: Business & Industry, Education & Non-Profit Organizations, Government (local & county), and Public Citizens. Four Committee members continue in their second year, while five members from the 2015 Committee return for a new term, and seven new faces joined this year. The 16 voting members are joined by an array of Ex-Officio and Resource members (both non-voting categories) from business, higher education, and regional, state and federal government.

The Ex-Officio and Resource members will provide valuable insight, new resources, and community connections to aid the voting members in their work of determining the status of the impairments in the many rivers within the Maumee Area of Concern. This year the MAAC will also be working to identify the necessary projects, next steps, and research or sampling needed to begin to improve the biological and physical integrity to the watersheds within the Area of Concern.

A full plate of work is ahead for the 2016 Committee. Click here for a full list of the dedicated Committee members.

The Maumee AOC Committee works toward fishable and swimmable waters in the Maumee Area of Concern and delisting the beneficial use impairments. The Committee is working towards all major restoration projects being completed by 2025, through collaboration of partners and volunteer opportunities by its facilitating organization, Partners for Clean Streams. The committee is made up of representatives from various organizations, citizens, businesses and non-government agencies to build long term solutions to the area’s water quality issues.