Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 1, 2011 To December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database decreased by 20.7% over the last quarter. The database now contains 7,072 records.
• Results show an average of 1,080 visits per month, and with an average of 2,328 pages viewed per month.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported 22 volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 867 volunteers whom contributed approximately 3,774.5 hours of service.
• Two community outreach events were attended, resulting in 476 direct contacts with 50 names added to the database.
• The 7th Annual Volunteer Recognition Banquet was held on 11/5/11 with 156 volunteers in attendance.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Annual Progress Report, Period Covering January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• A meeting of stakeholders across Nevada was held to explore the potential for statewide collaboration on litter and dumping issues.
• Website activity for the first three quarters of the year averaged 1,122 hits per month, with an average of 1,927 pages viewed per month.
• The team attended 12 community outreach events resulting in 2,154 direct contacts and 324 new mailing list records.
• The Take Pride in America (TPIA) in Southern Nevada completed a total of 41 volunteer events contributing a total of 10,779 volunteer hours.
• The TPIA team filed a no-cost extension to SNPLMA and received an extension until December …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending December 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (IMAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing; remaining analyses are underway with report delivery rescheduled for 05/2012.
• Data have been delivered for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead with report delivery re-scheduled for 05/2012.
• Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on 11/17/2011; the next meeting is scheduled for 02/16/2011.

Project 2

• Appendix 7, an addition to the Long-term Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead and Mohave, has …

Take Pride In America Phase Iii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 25, 2011-October 24, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The GIS database was field tested.
• Three youth groups began the Hector’s Helpers curriculum.
• America Recycles Day event planning occurred.
• Forms were developed for the volunteer monitoring program.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 6, 2011-October 5, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• A total of 6 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.
• Interagency cooperation continued.
• Recycling containers were distributed to agencies for use at public events.
• Website redesign continued.

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering July 1, 2011 To September 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased 5% from last quarter. The database now contains 8,918 records.
• Results show an average of 1,170 visits per month, and with an average of 2,681 pages viewed per month.
• Six National Public Lands Day events have been completed.
• The Interagency Volunteer Standard Operations Manual has been updated and made available to all other SNAP teams.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported 16 volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized approximately 600 volunteers whom contributed approximately 2,500 hours of service.
• Preparations for the 11/5/11 volunteer recognition banquet continued.

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, processing of all 2010 juvenile/adult samples was completed; remaining analyses are underway. The project team assisted NPS with 2011 collections.
• A final report on Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead is in preparation for delivery at the end of November 2011; sample analysis continues for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay with report delivery planned for the end of November 2011.
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on …

Youth Initiative Hector’S Helpers: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering April 16, 2011 – August 5, 2011, Hector's Helpers

Anti-littering Programs

The Hector’s Helpers program was in full action this quarter. Students at Roy Martin Middle School completed their environmental stewardship project. Our team produced and distributed promotional flyers in order to increase Clark County School participation in Hector’s Helpers. In addition this quarter, the Hector’s Helpers team was showcased in a news segment aired by Las Vegas City Scene.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering April 5, 2011-July 4, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Plans were set for a meeting of government, business and nonprofit stakeholders to explore how to enhance statewide collaboration on litter and dumping issues.
• The Hector’s Helpers program with the Clark County School District continued in various schools.
• Planning for the integration of the information sharing portal, volunteer litter monitoring and the GIS database was conducted.
• A total of 12 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Annual Progress Report, Period Covering July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• From July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 the Volgistics database has increased the number of records from 6,536 to a total of 8,460 records at the end of this period.
• Website activity this year averaged 1,110 hits per month, with an average of 2,347 pages viewed per month.
• The team attended 11 community outreach events resulting in 2,455 direct contacts and 393 new mailing list records.
• The Interagency Volunteer Program (IVP) completed a total of 71 volunteer events contributing a total of 17,784 volunteer hours.
• A total of 131 volunteers completed orientations and trainings with the IVP.
• A total …

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering April 1, 2011-June 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased by 12.2% over the last quarter. The database now contains 8,460 records.
• The number of site visits decreased by 12.3 % over the last quarter. Results show an average of 1,188 visits per month.
• The number of page views increased 26.4% over last month. Results show an average of 2,632 pages viewed per month.
• The IVP standard operations manual is under final review.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported twenty-one volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 1,112 volunteers whom contributed 4,599 combined hours of service.
• Volunteer Orientation Training Automation …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending June 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 42 juvenile/adult samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway.
• As of 7/07/11 all sample sets will have been collected for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead; sampling continues for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay.
• The Interagency Quagga Mussel Meeting was held on 05/17/11; the next meeting is scheduled for 08/25/11.

Project 2

• Appendix 7, an addition to the Long-term Limnological and Aquatic …

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering January 5, 2011- April 4, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The Hector’s Helpers program with the Clark County School District continued curriculum development.

• The team continued to develop the GIS database.

• An information sharing portal between stakeholders began development.

• The team worked with Keep Las Vegas Beautiful to develop an adopt a block recognition plan, as well as developed a survey and database for the survey.

• A total of 10 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering January 1, 2011 To March 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased by 15.35% over the last quarter. The database now contains 7,537 records.
• The number of site visits increased 38.5% over the last quarter. Results show an average of 1,356 visits per month.
• The number of page views increased 29.15% over last month. Results show an average of 2,081 pages viewed per month.
• Get Outdoors Nevada supported 22 volunteer events in a variety of ways. These events utilized 692 volunteers whom contributed 2,930 combined hours of service.
• Four volunteer trainings have been completed; 72 volunteers attended the trainings.
• Volunteer Orientation Training Automation …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending March 30, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 13 juvenile/adult samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway.
• Both research projects are well underway with 14 sample sets collected for Veliger abundance and settlement at different depths of Lake Mead and 12 samples collected for Growth of adult quagga mussels within Las Vegas Wash/Las Vegas Bay.

Project 2

• Annual summary sheets are under development for the topics listed within the Limnological and Aquatic Resource Monitoring and Research Plan for Lakes Mead …

Youth Initiative Hector’S Helpers: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering November 11, 2010 – February 10, 2011, Hector's Helpers

Anti-littering Programs

The Hector’s Helpers program provides an opportunity to bring environmental education and foster a sense of stewardship to students. We supply a once a week hands-on curriculum which includes a litter clean-up fieldtrip. Students learn general environmental concepts such as community, conservation, recycling, and litter prevention. They will also have access to Geographic Information Systems and Podcast technology. Through the use of GIS and Podcasts we hope to get community members to collect data and prevent litter and desert dumping. The students also participated in a marketing campaign for the Adopt-A-Block initiative. By participating in the Hector’s Helpers program, the …

Impacts Of Mid-Level Biofuel Content In Gasoline On Sidi Engine-Out And Tailpipe Particulate Matter Emissions, Xin He, John C. Ireland, Bradley T. Zigler, Matthew A. Ratcliff, Keith E. Knoll, Teresa L. Alleman, John T. Tester

Publications (E)

In this work, the influences of ethanol and iso-butanol blended with gasoline on engine-out and post three-way catalyst (TWC) particle size distribution and number concentration were studied using a General Motors (GM) 2.0L turbocharged spark ignition direct injection (SIDI) engine. The engine was operated using the production engine control unit (ECU) with a dynamometer controlling the engine speed and the accelerator pedal position controlling the engine load. A TSI Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS) spectrometer was used to measure the particle size distribution in the range from 5.6 to 560 nm with a sampling rate of 1 Hz. U.S. federal …

Limnological Assistance For Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Quarterly Report, Period Ending January 31, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1

• Technical assistance with the implementation of the Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP) for Quagga Mussels is ongoing. During this quarter, analysis was completed for 21 adult/juvenile samples and analyses of the remaining samples are underway. A manuscript describing the I-MAP and its history, current recommended monitoring, and recommended future monitoring and a separate manuscript describing the I-MAP’s monitoring protocol were accepted for publication in the journal Aquatic Invasions. Two other manuscripts describing other aspects of the I-MAP program were published in Lake and Reservoir Management.

Project 2

• Annual summary sheets are under development for the topics listed within …

Abundance And Size Of Quagga Mussels (Dreissena Bugensis) Veligers In Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, Shawn Gerstenberger, Sara Ann Mueting, Wai Hing Wong

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The planktonic veligers of the invasive quagga mussel were present year-round from April 2008 to March 2009 in Lake Mead, with high abundance from September to October (>20 veligers/L), whereas the percentage of competent veligers, in terms of the ability to settle, peaked from November 2008 to January 2009 (>60%). The results from this experiment are useful in understanding the life history and population dynamics of quagga mussels in the lower Colorado River Basin.

Quagga Mussels In The Western United States: Monitoring And Management, Wai Hing Wong, Shawn Gerstenberger

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Dreissenid mussels including zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, 1771), originating from the Ponto-Caspian area, and quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis Andrusov, 1897), originating from the mouths of the Rivers Southern Bug and Dnieper are both species native to Eastern Europe, which were accidently introduced into the Laurentian Great Lakes in North America in the 1980s in ballast water (Carlton 2008; Van der Velde et al 2010). Dreissenid mussels have created severe ecological, recreational and economic impacts on many systems because they are biofoulers and efficient ecological engineers that filter large quantities of water. Examples of these wide-ranging impacts are discussed …

The 100th Meridian Initiative At The Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nv, Usa: Differences Between Boater Behaviors Before And After A Quagga Mussel, Driessena Rostiformis Bugensis, Invasion, Sara Ann Mueting, Shawn Gerstenberger

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The 100th Meridian Initiative was developed to help prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) through boater education and research on boater movement patterns and behaviors. Surveys employing these elements were conducted at Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) in 2002-2003 before the discovery of the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostiformis bugensis Andrusov 1897) and in 2007-2008 after an established population of quagga mussels was found in the Lake. Boaters were asked questions in a personal interview or a mail-in survey regarding what body of water they had previously launched their watercraft in, where they were planning to launch next, …

Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-Map) For Quagga Mussels In Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, Usa, Kent Turner, Wai Hing Wong, Shawn Gerstenberger, Jennell M. Miller

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Following the discovery of quagga mussels in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, USA, a variety of federal, state and regional agencies set up monitoring programs to evaluate and gain information to help minimize the impacts, or potential impacts, of quagga mussels to their facilities and lake ecology. While the agencies have worked closely and shared monitoring data and findings from the beginning of the infestation, there has been no documented comprehensive monitoring program to describe and record the various quagga mussel-related monitoring needs. Ad hoc interagency quagga mussel meeting representatives established an Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP), which outlines agency objectives related …

Abundance And Stomach Content Analysis Of Threadfin Shad In Lake Mead, Nevada: Do Invasive Quagga Mussels Affect This Prey Species?, Eric Michael Loomis, Jon C. Sjoberg, Wai Hing Wong, Shawn Gerstenberger

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Lake Mead, Nevada is the largest reservoir by volume in the United States, as well as a popular sport fishing destination. In January 2007, the invasive quagga mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (Andrusov, 1897) was discovered in the reservoir and concerns began to arise about potential alterations to the aquatic environment. The Lake Mead sport fishery is reliant on the sustainability of prey species like the threadfin shad [Dorosoma petenense (Günther, 1867)]. This study examined 20-year trends in historic abundance of the threadfin shad, before, and shortly after, the discovery of quagga mussels in the system. Larval shad trawl data collected …

Environmental Factors Affecting Settlement Of Quagga Mussel (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis) Veligers In Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, Usa, Dong Chen, Shawn Gerstenberger, Sara Ann Mueting, Wai Hing Wong

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Environmental factors that can affect the settlement rate of quagga mussel veligers include flow velocity, water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, total organic carbon (TOC), and the surface roughness of monitoring substrates. In the present study, six artificial substrates, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, Concrete Underlayment Board (CUB), aluminum, stainless steel and fiberglass, were used to monitor the settlement of quagga mussel veligers at different water depths in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, USA. Considering the hierarchical data structure of observed mussel densities, we investigated the relationship between mussel settlement on monitoring substrates and the surrounding …

A Standardized Design For Quagga Mussel Monitoring In Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, Wai Hing Wong, Shawn Gerstenberger, Jennell M. Miller, Craig Palmer, Bryan Moore

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

The discovery of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, on January 6, 2007 is the first known occurrence of dreissenid species in the western United States. This study developed elements of a cost-effective and standardized quagga mussel-monitoring program for Lake Mead using preliminary data to arrive at statistically based numbers of sampling sites. To represent the abundance of adult/juvenile quagga mussels in Lake Mead’s heterogeneous floor with 95% confidence, a stratified simple random sampling design revealed a requirement of 41 samples from hard substrates (i.e., rocky areas) and 97 samples from soft substrates (i.e., sandy and muddy …

Hector's Helpers Program: Project Compendium, Hector's Helpers

Anti-littering Programs

The Final Project Report reflects activities and accomplishments that occurred during the course of the Task Agreement within BLM Youth Initiative Hector’s Helpers: Youth Combating Litter and Desert Dumping. The project was funded by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada State office, on behalf of the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). The agencies have jointly worked together for several years under the Great Basin Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (GBCESU) master agreement FAA060058 in order to develop a strategic plan to combat litter and desert dumping.

The Hector’s Helpers program provides an opportunity to bring environmental …

Settlement And Growth Of Quagga Mussels (Dreissenia Rostriformis Bugensis Andrusov, 1897) In Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, Usa, Wai Hing Wong, Shawn Gerstenberger, Wen Baldwin, Bryan Moore

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Settlement and growth of quagga mussels Dreissena rostriformis bugensis were monitored in Lake Mead, NV, USA, where the first dreissenid occurrence was confirmed in the western United States. To measure the settlement rate of these invasive mussels, seven acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) pipes were attached to a line in shallow water (7.7 m below the surface) since November 23, 2007; eight ABS pipes were placed on another line in deep water (13.4 m below the surface) since January 3, 2008. Quagga mussels were sampled from these pipes on March 19, May 21, July 9, October 20, and December 19, 2008. …