Ruth Eilers named Georgia AAS Trainer of the Year

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Georgia College & State University’s Director of Academic Outreach, Ruth Eilers, was awarded the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Trainer of the Year award.

“Ruth is very deserving of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Trainer of the Year award! She is such a talented and valued director in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies,” said Angela Crisoce, executive director of GCSU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. “I love her passion for environmental science and her ability to teach others how to explore and care for the earth. She puts her whole heart into her work and this award represents that!”

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) is the state’s volunteer water quality monitoring program. The organization was created in 1993 to train and encourage individuals to monitor and improve sections of streams, wetlands, lakes or estuaries throughout their communities. According to their website, AAS is one of the outreach and education programs of the Non-Point Source Program in the Watershed Protection Branch of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and is funded by the Clean Water Act.

Volunteers with AAS select a site within their community to adopt and regularly monitor their site. They submit monitoring data to an online database that helps to sketch a story for the river. Types of monitoring include chemical, bacterial, macroinvertebrate, visual and amphibian monitoring.

“My favorite part of being a volunteer is interacting with the water and creating a story for the stream,” said Eilers. “It’s so important for us to monitor these streams and learn about the water in our communities and improve them. That’s why I enjoy being involved and teaching others how to get involved.”

Eilers is a region coordinator for East Georgia, specifically for Baldwin County, Milledgeville, and the Upper Oconee River Watershed through GCSU Academic Outreach. She has been a trainer for over 20 years and actively trained for 17 years. Eilers became involved with AAS through her graduate assistant supervisor, at the time, Dr. Harriett Whipple. Whipple began the program at GCSU and left it to Eilers upon her retirement.

“Dr. Whipple began Academic Outreach at Georgia College and Adopt-A-Stream was one of the programs she was already actively involved in and promoting when I became a graduate assistant,” said Eilers.

“Adopt-A-Stream has been a part of Academic Outreach since AAS was founded 30 years ago. When I became director, I continued the work that Dr. Whipple had previously built.”

Currently Eilers has adopted Champion Creek at Lake Laurel on GCSU East Campus and Tobler Creek at Andalusia. Both have had steady monitoring for about a year and to promote community inclusion, Eilers hosts public monitoring sessions once a month during the school year.

“I have primarily trained students who have been interested in the process, but I would like to include more of the community,” said Eilers. “We are telling the stories of Baldwin County’s water, so I believe it’s very important to have more mentors directly from the community and not just our college.”

Volunteers can receive training for any type of monitoring. In the past, individuals have contacted Eilers for the training they are most interested in and planned a date but if she can grow community interest, Eilers hopes to host more trainings that are community wide.

“If someone is curious about Adopt-a-Stream or about Baldwin County’s water, I highly recommend our monthly sessions to them. No training is required to attend and it’s open to the entire community,” said Eilers.

To learn more about Georgia Adopt-A-Stream in Baldwin County or to get involved, contact Ruth Eilers at ruth.eilers@gcsu. edu or call 478-445-0810.