Sw Mo Stream Team Summit

[ollie]

Although it happened last night, it was very inspirational. Some of you may have gotten the flyer if you are on a team and in SW MO. I got to meet several people I had only known from email interaction and phone conversations. We ate plenty of food and got to watch the new Stream Team Video. I encourage you to watch the video. It is only 17 minutes long, but it will grab you and make you proud to be a Missouri resident. I thought it was done pretty well. The Conservation Federation has a link to the video via youtube or I suppose you could just go straight to youtube and find it. I will be receiving a free copy of the video in a few weeks and let my stream team view it at their convience. We discussed the future and past of the stream team program and it is very promising. We were reassured from Andrew Branson ( our Biologist for this region ) that the program is very strong and the department has no intentions of letting this program go by the wayside in this economy. I beleive you will be seeing more "team associations" and more of the water coalitions being formed at a higher level to give us more of a political voice in water quality and management. I think the Stream Team program will be heading in the same way of the Conservation Federation in the future. As in more clout with some backbone to back it up. I encourage all on this board to get active in a stream team and make a difference. 20 years strong with over 4,000 teams and over 80,000 members and growing. Get on the wagon and make a difference!!