Boat Access Traffic Analyst Needed at Vermilion

Want to join the dedicated team protecting Lake Vermilion from aquatic invasive species (AIS)? Pretty good at manipulating data in Excel? Need a community service project with a non-profit for high school or college credit?

The Vermilion Lake Association is looking for two volunteers to help analyze traffic counts at Vermilion’s 17 public accesses this summer. Understanding trailered-boat arrival patterns will give us the insight to efficiently deploy AIS boat inspectors at accesses and to set times to staff our two boat cleaning stations, one at each end of the lake

These tech-savvy volunteers will help 1) analyze traffic data collected at public and private accesses by both AIS boat inspectors and unattended TRAFx traffic monitors, 2) develop an arrival model to fill in the time and spatial gaps where data is weak, and 3) test promising ideas to reduce the cost-per-boat and increase the percentage of boats inspected before launch.

If this opportunity sounds intriguing, please contact Jeff Lovgren, Lake Vermilion AIS Prevention leader, for additional info.