Is the photo above a screenshot from Leslie Knope's dream? Probably. But it was also a scene from the Indiana Water Monitoring Council's workshop for exploring a water data hub for the state of Indiana. 

I traveled down to Indianapolis to talk with other leaders, scientists, computer folks, and soil and water conservationists to dream about the possibility of having all of the water data collected throughout Indiana in one FAIR place -- Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. It is a tall order... we all collect data for different reasons, with different equipment, with different methods. But we know that working together can lead to better stewardship, so we are starting.

It also got my brain spinning about our own Stream Team -- how, where, and why we collect data. You can see reports on our own water data from 2021-2024 on our About page.

Well... I think we solved the mystery of our data connection issues!

Our buoy faithfully bobbed along and transmitted data during its first field season, and it was time for extraction before the ice arrives.

But we found cables gnawed in several places, including a big chunk out of the buoyant foam structure itself. The bite marks seem to eliminate any possibility other than muskrat -- if you've other ideas, we're all ears! (Well, ears and sharp teeth).

Now time for some repairs, data analysis, and planning for next year. So continues our lake's cycles, often similar, but never quite the same!

Our friends at SMIPP (The St. Joseph-Marshall Counties Invasive Plant Partnership) are hosting a workshop this Saturday at Potato Creek State Park.

What you’ll learn:

*Invasive Plant Identification

*Three Pillars of Invasives Management

*Effective Control & Management Techniques

It's free! You can register at this website: https://www.stjosephswcd.org/events/invasives-management-training-for-landowners