RESTORATIONRESEARCH PROJECTS

Since 2004, the Collins Learning Center has been the summer laboratory home for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Environmental Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) which, in collaboration with Door County Health Department and the Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department, has been working to monitor the quality of Door County waters at 31 beaches. The project includes collection and analysis of beach water to identify main sources of pollution and produce a predictive multivariate model of contaminant occurrences.

Because surface water quality directly affects residents and visitors, public education and citizen action are important components of this project. Citizen volunteers from several local environmental organizations bring water samples to the lab. The lab also acts as a pick-up and drop-off site for home well testing kits.

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." (attributed to Albert Einstein) Thanks to funding from annual donors and these grantors (link), Crossroads is making a concerted effort to count the things that count. By engaging with professionals like Gary Casper of Ecological Restoration Services and Mike Grimm of The Nature Conservancy, as well as citizen scientists, we are monitoring, acoustically and through traditional on-the-ground survey counts, the flora and fauna that rely on Crossroads.