FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ( 11/07/05 )
Contact: Dana Putnam, PR/Events Coordinator
Phone: 706-828-2109

Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy Selected as
Location to Receive YSI EcoNet™ System to Monitor
Savannah River Tributary, Butler Creek

Augusta, GA---YSI, Inc. and AMJ Equipment Corporation have provided Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, an Augusta, Georgia-based private, nonprofit environmental organization with a YSI EcoNet™ web-enabled remote monitoring and control system to continuously monitor Butler Creek stream quality. Academy President and CEO Dr. Gene Eidson states, “ The Academy is honored to have been chosen by YSI, Inc. to receive this technology and serve as a demonstration site for the EcoNet ™ . This unit will support the Academy’s Savannah River at Risk research and education initiatives by providing continuous stream data.” YSI EcoNet™, released this year, is a remote monitoring and control system which brings together data from multiple sensors and deployment sites. All data is stored on a secure site and accessible via web browser.

By providing reliable and accurate data, YSI works with customers worldwide to "mind the planet" by monitoring natural resources such as the Butler Creek watershed in Augusta , GA. EcoNet ™ allows the user to login and view real-time Butler Creek stream quality data from the Academy’s website. Regional students participating in the Academy’s Phinizy Swamp K-12 Programs and Adopt-A-Stream program will utilize the data and learn about the growing role of technology in ecological research.

View Butler Creek data at the following link: www.ysieconet.com/public/WebUI/Default.aspx?hidCustomerID=96.

More information about how EcoNet ™ will support the Academy’s research and education initiatives will soon be posted on the Academy’s website at www.naturalsciencesacademy.org. S outheastern Natural Sciences Academy is a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization with a mission to promote environmental stewardship through education, research, and outreach programs.

The Savannah River at Risk Initiatives represent a milestone for the Academy’s research program and further establish the Academy’s Center for Urban River Research as a leader of water resources research within the Southeast. The data collected will be submitted to the governors of Georgia and South Carolina, their bi-state task forces, both state legislatures, the Savannah District Corps of Engineers, EPA Region 4, and general stakeholders throughout the river basin. The study will provide crucial data for developing informed management policy for Savannah River . This research will foster teamwork among private and public participants and will advance the science of river monitoring through publications and presentations. Of importance, this project is being funded with both private and public funds and represents an example of a public-private partnership approach to sustainable river research. It is the embodiment of the concept of cooperative conservation.

This same YSI EcoNet™ Data Management System captured data during Hurricane Katrina. Even as a huge wall of water from Hurricane Katrina submerged data transmitter hardware, YSI's new EcoNet system continued logging water quality data in Grand Bay Reserve, Mississippi. Data transmitter boxes, normally mounted at least five feet above water levels, were submerged when the Category 4 hurricane blew through the Gulf Coast region, causing much destruction. EcoNet ™ continued to log data from the multiple sensor instruments installed throughout the Reserve, but it could not transmit the data until water levels subsided.

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