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Watershed Research Upper Chippewa Watershed Education Research Center (WERC for short).
What is a WERC?     A WERC is an educational effort jointly-sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WI-DNR) and UW-Extension dating back to 1994.  To date, there is a network of 7 WERCs spread over the state of Wisconsin.  The mission of the WERC program is to "Make available watershed focused resources, such as equipment and instructional guides, to civic organizations, clubs, schools, and individuals at little or no cost."

Why monitor water quality in your local stream?

Because it's YOUR WATER!  Have you ever wondered how clean the water is in your backyard stream or river?  How about the creek running through your park?  Natural resource agencies like the DNR do not have enough staff to collect water quality data for every stream.  By volunteering your time to collect this data, you can help provide valuable information to policy makers and local residents.  Who knows you might even help keep the water clean in your favorite stream.

What resources do we have available?

The Upper Chippewa WERC has water quality monitoring equipment, manuals, guidebooks, and other resources available for groups to check out for FREE.  Check out our catalog for a list of equipment.

Want more information?

To find out if we have what you are looking for, download a PDF version of Our Catalog WERC-Brochure.pfd (215k) or the Library List WERC-library-list.pdf (119k). You will need Adobe Reader to view this file. 

-Click here for further info and instructions-
-Click here to download reader directly-

Learn more about water quality monitoring by visiting the UW-Extension/Wisconsin DNR partnership program website:
Water Action Volunteers.  You can also contact Kris Stepenuck, WAV coordinator at (608) 265-3887 or (608) 264-8948 Fax: (608) 262-2031.

Interested in finding more water based educational resources?  If so, visit the UW-Extension sites:

Giving Water a Hand

Educating Young People About Water