IMPORTANT TRAINING INFORMATION FOR APALACHICOLA BAY AREA VOLUNTEERS
Dear Volunteers:
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the Riverkeeper's new volunteer coordinator for our response to the BP Oil Disaster. I look forward to working with you over the next few months as together, we build our preparedness, and face with confidence, many unknowns. We have updated our regular website, www.apalachicolariverkeeper.org with information related to the oil spill.
In addition, we have created a website as an information hub for up-to-date information concerning local emergency response efforts. In case you have not yet visited, please make a point to visit as soon as you finish this letter. It's packed with good information, phone numbers to refer to, and ongoing local response training and volunteer opportunities. The site is www.oilspillresponse.org.
Many of you have already visited the website, and over 120 of you have volunteered. Many others have been stopping in or calling our Riverkeeper office at 232-B Water Street to offer help, and to share information. The community-wide response from all ages, all walks of life, and even from far-flung places, was truly heartening. In terms of being prepared, we have come a long way in three short weeks.
We began our efforts on very short notice, and yet, within a space of 10 days, 244 volunteers and area agencies had rallied at over a dozen Franklin County sites and collected nearly eight tons of debris in a pre-impact coastline clean-up. As a result, our shores are a much cleaner habitat for wildlife, at present, and in the event we do experience an oil impact, the subsequent clean-up operation will be far less complicated and will reduce the impacts to the environment over the long-term. The level of cooperation demonstrated with this clean-up operation may serve as a valuable drill for future response efforts.
We continue to build the database of volunteers and needs, and we are now turning our attention to the next phase of shoreline and bay impact monitoring. Our initial action in this regard will be a volunteer-supported shoreline and bay monitoring program. Our goal will be to build, along with cooperating agencies, a database of baseline information on the pre-impact, and post-impact conditions of the Franklin County bay and shoreline. Two programs may be of interest to volunteers:
FLORIDA COAST WATCH
The Apalachicola Riverkeeper will partner with the State of Florida through Volunteer Florida, to promote this new program. Volunteers wishing to participate do not require any special training or registration. Similar to Crime Watch programs, Florida Coast Watch is designed for any volunteers who are community members, and who know the daily wildlife and plants that exist on their local beaches. Participants will report contaminated wildlife, vegetation, or shoreline to the appropriate agencies through telephone hotlines. More information on this program can be found at www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org.
NATIONAL RESOURCE DAMAGES ASSESSMENT (NRDA) MONITORING
This NRDA program is a long-established program for damage assessment whereby state and/or federal government agencies can recover the cost of replacement or restoration of the natural resources, as compared to their baseline condition. Apalachicola Riverkeeper will coordinate volunteer training in monitoring procedures, provide logistical support, and a database for reporting. This program will be an ongoing, long-term commitment in the event that oil spill impacts are experienced along our shores and bay.
Even if you do not feel inclined to assist in one the above outlined programs, there will be other opportunities that will evolve to assist in our response activities that we cannot even foresee at this point. Every volunteer has something to offer that can add to the overall effort. As needs arise, we will post them on our website, www.oilspillrecovery.org.
Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all those who have already responded with their donations of time and financial assistance. I believe our actions are already making a difference by fostering coordination, cooperation, and the confidence that working together, we can effectively meet the challenges ahead.
Sincerely,
Robin Rickel Vroegop
Volunteer Coordinator, Apalachicola Riverkeeper
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
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