IAN staff with local experts from various Virginia state agencies and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Yorktown Battlefield: We learned that Yorktown Battlefield was actually the site of a siege, where General Cornwallis of the British army was forced to surrender to General George Washington of the American Continental Army. The French naval fleet successfully blockaded the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to prevent the British army to be re-provisioned in the fall of 1781. We saw the encampment sites of the American forces to the south and French forces led by the Marquis de Lafayette to the west where they pinned Cornwallis in Yorktown. In addition, we saw the Moore house where the British and American officers gathered to negotiate the British surrender. The Yorktown Battlefield consists of forested areas with grassy fields containing Revolutionary War redoubts which are man-made earthen berms created by soldiers for protection.

Colonial Parkway: Yorktown is connected to historic Williamsburg and Jamestown via the Colonial Parkway. The parkway is a three lane dark concrete road that runs along the York and James Rivers and crosses the peninsula with tunnels and bridges.

Tim Carruthers on a bridge on the Colonial Parkway

Jamestown: Jamestown Island, or Jamestowne as spelled by the National Park Service, is the site of the first permanent British colony in America. Jamestown Island was inhabited from 1607-1699, founded by Captain John Smith. We learned that Jamestown is an active archeological site from a docent on site who showed us photographs of the plates, coins, pieces of copper, and oyster shells collected in the archeological dig. We walked across a boardwalk over the ‘pitch and tar’ swamp, named for the pine trees that were used to tap and collect sap used for pitch and tar that the colonists used for boat construction and repair. The pitch and tar was mixed with straw and grass to caulk the seams of planks of their wooden boats. After the boardwalk, we toured the ‘Old Town’ and ‘New Town’ sections of Jamestowne where the colonists lived. There were statues of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith where we took photos of our female and male team members, respectively. We could see the first interactive buoy of the newly created Captain John Smith National Historic Trail offshore ‘New Town’. We called the buoy to access weather and hydrological data and listen to short history segments.

Dennis Skidds, Bill Dennison, Tim Carruthers, Charley Roman, and Todd Lookingbill at the statue of Captain John Smith at Jamestown

Jane Thomas, Ericka Poppell, Kate Bentsen, and Dorothy Geyer with Pocahontas at Jamestown

Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS) 'smart buoys' or 'talking buoys' transmit historical information, real-time weather and water quality data via the internet and cell phone.

'Join the adventure' sign detailing the 'Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail' which traces Smith's explorations throughout the Chesapeake.

Virginia Commonwealth University's Rice Center

Mini-symposium group outside the Rice Center

Chris Ludwig from Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation presenting data from Colonial National Historical Park

Over the coming months, we are looking forward to accessing the considerable data resources that exist for Colonial National Historical Park and developing conceptual diagrams that depict the various habitats in the park. We enjoyed the hospitality of Park Superintendent Dan Smith and Natural Resources Manager Dorothy Geyer and their staff. We also are looking forward to our ongoing collaboration with Dr. Todd Lookingbill, University of Richmond. Dr. Charley Roman and the Inventory & Monitoring Program staff of the National Park Service based at the University of Rhode Island also participated and will be part of the team working on this Natural Resource Condition Assessment.

A range of symbols from the IAN symbol libraries

This week is the sixth anniversary of when the Integration and Application Network first posted its symbol library on its newly created website. This free, downloadable symbol library has been providing users with symbols crafted by IAN science communicators for use in constructing conceptual diagrams. These symbols are depictions of either a miniature version of something tangible (e.g., a mangrove symbol based on an actual mangrove tree) or something intangible (e.g., the conversion of dissolved nitrate into nitrogen gas, or denitrification). The symbols were created to populate conceptual diagrams that IAN science communicators use to synthesize information, communicate scientific findings, establish research priorities, or identify management actions. At IAN, we have found that these conceptual diagrams, or thought drawings, are a powerful tool in science communication. Each conceptual diagram is comprised of dozens of symbols and the symbol library was formed by collecting the symbols used in creating new conceptual diagrams. The symbols are vector-based graphics, rather than raster-based, thus they are scalable to any dimension, as they retain their colors and proportions independent of size. This means that both the symbols and conceptual diagrams created from symbols can be used in a variety of science communication products; posters, papers, newsletters, or web materials.

The creation of new symbols takes an experienced science communicator 1-2 hours per symbol, depending on the symbol complexity. There are approximately 2,500 symbols now in the IAN symbol library, and each of these symbols was created for the same simple reason—because they were needed for use in a science communication product. As a result, the symbol library has developed ‘organically’, with each additional symbol created to serve a purpose in communicating science. These new symbols were created to convey a wider breadth of knowledge. The symbols were started in Australia by the Marine Botany group at the University of Queensland. This group was communicating coastal issues as part of the Healthy Waterways campaign in SE Queensland. The first symbols were subtropical in nature, and there were lots of Australian seagrasses and mangroves as well as various Australian animals. When the Integration and Application Network was created in 2002 at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, new symbols were needed in addition to the Australian symbols. When the symbol library was put on the web six years ago, it quickly became apparent that many people from virtually every country on earth find it useful. The widespread symbol library downloads express the global need to communicate.

The symbols that were created five or ten years ago often need to be updated or revised. The development of improved techniques and standardized ways to create and edit symbols has led to process of updating and revising previous symbols in addition to creating new symbols. There are very specific symbols as well as more generic symbols. By using symbols in computer graphics programs, an ancient and fundamental communication technique is being adapted to current technology. Symbols have been used in cave drawing, storyboards, and hieroglyphics, and the web-based symbol library is a modern version of an ancient technique.

The success of the IAN symbol library prompts the consideration that a global language, based on symbols, can be created. There have been many attempts at developing a global language. When different cultures wax and wane, their language is often considered the global language, currently exemplified by English. Also, different languages have specific global uses, for example, French for diplomacy and Latin for the Catholic church. Newly created languages have even been developed for global application, e.g., Esperanto, but they have not achieved a widespread acceptance. Symbols lend themselves to a global use, as they are timeless, culturally independent and language independent. Symbols could be the vocabulary of a new global language. With the current symbol count at ~2,500, this is not enough to be considered a complete language, but it is a good way toward achieving that goal. English can be communicated with as few as 5,000 words, out of the 40,000+ available words. The symbol language will continue to grow steadily as IAN and others develop new symbols to communicate more effectively. The vision for the symbol library is to become more comprehensive with several thousand more symbols to form a global symbol language.

In Nutrients Anonymous, our motto is “One day at a time”, and we ask ourselves, “Are we doing everything that we can do today with current resources to make Chesapeake Bay a better place?”

Conceptual diagram detailing best management practices around Chesapeake Bay.

The Nutrients Anonymous 12 point plan for dealing with nutrient problems is the following:

Nutrient reductions

1. Plant cover crops. Proven to be the most cost effective agricultural best management practice for removing nitrogen, cover crops prevent nutrients from getting into groundwater. Planting cover crops is currently a voluntary and distributed program. We need to transition the voluntary program into a mandatory program, and provide incentives to early planting to insure maximum benefit.

2. Treat animal manure. Delmarva has 1.1 million people who’s sewage is largely treated, but 110 million chickens at any given time are producing manure with little or no treatment. In addition to solid waste, atmospheric ammonia plumes have been documented. Chicken litter can be a resource (energy, fertilizer), but we need to develop better methods to utilize this resource so that we do not continue to apply chicken manure to soils already saturated with nutrients, particularly phosphorus.

3. Upgrade sewage treatment. We need a watershed-wide standard of Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) for sewage treatment. Sewage/stormwater overflows are part of the problem, so in addition to upgrading the level of sewage treatment, the issue of overflows needs to be addressed by increasing capacity to handle high flows. In order to effectively monitor the sewage nutrients, implement a sewage plume mapping program so that we know how well the ENR program is working.

4. Install denitrifying septic systems. Denitrifying septic systems in critical areas (e.g., Queen Anne’s County) for new construction should be mandatory; expanding to retrofitting existing septic in the future.

Restoration activities

5. Scrub emissions.Targeting selected major smokestack emissions is a cost effective way to reduce N. Driving automobiles less to reduce atmospheric emissions and consequent deposition also reduces greenhouse gases.

6. Landscape backyards. Plant trees, use rain barrels and install rain gardens to intercept stormwater and absorb nutrients, including carbon. A public awareness campaign to encourage water sensitive residential landscaping is needed.

7. Reduce impervious surfaces. Roads and roofs intensify runoff water quality problems and lead to incised streams due to increased runoff energy. These impervious surfaces can be reduced using techniques such as porous pavers and green roofs. Bold legislation requiring no net increase in impervious surfaces is needed.

8. Restore streams. Stream restoration can be accomplished using riparian buffers, daylighting streams that have been buried, and reconnecting streams with floodplain to enhance nutrient removal.

Integrating efforts

9. Communicate widely. We have been preaching to the choir and we need a concerted campaign to reach beyond the small groups of dedicated individuals; we need to interest the uninterested, inform the interested, engage the informed. Timely, information-rich, communication-based materials disseminated widely are needed.

10. Monitor regularly. Monitor the status of the ecosystem (both watershed and bay waters), the stressors (e.g., nutrient inputs) and the implementation of restoration efforts.Timely feedback will provide managers with a measure of effectiveness of various actions so that modifications can be made to improve future implementation approaches.

11. Research key issues. Direct research to answer unresolved issues (e.g., water clarity decline), elucidate new issues, and target restoration activities.

12. Govern using transparency and accountability (e.g., BayStat). Make informed decisions based on best available scientific knowledge. Target resources for maximum impact.

By implementing this 12 point plan, my health and vitality will be restored and this will mean that my family of 17 million people will be able to swim, catch and eat fish and shellfish, and live in a cleaner and healthier world.

IAN has produced several tributary report cards based on citizen science monitoring programs.

Government agency monitoring is typically quality assured and good at providing broad spatial coverage and long term temporal trends. However, rapid responses in small regions are not well captured by agency monitoring, even though this is the scale necessary to detect changes that could inform management in an adaptive framework. This monitoring gap is where organized groups of citizen scientists can significantly contribute to the overall monitoring effort. Examples of how the efforts of citizen scientists can be coordinated include water quality sampling by riverkeeper or waterkeeper groups, plant and animal inventories through the National Park Service’s ‘Bio-Blitz’, low tide benthic assessments through the Seagrass Watch program, or bird surveys conducted during Audabon’s Christmas counts, just to name a few. These citizen science efforts require coordination and training, quality control mechanisms to insure good data, and data storage and analysis capability. Thus, the ‘free labor’ provided by citizen scientists must be accompanied by resources from either government agencies, non-government organizations or foundations.

There are several advantages to conducting citizen science.

1. The engagement of citizen scientists in a monitoring effort, supported by resources from other entities, reduces the disconnect people have with ecosystem management. These engaged citizens are then empowered to say “This is not right” if they observe something that is happening and they are likely to directly act to fix what they perceive as wrong.
2. Citizen scientist monitoring gets people outside in the ecosystem, looking at it, experiencing it and being part of it. Technological advances have made it increasingly comfortable to stay indoors; central heat/air conditioning, multiple television stations and internet streaming entertainment continually. Why experience nature yourself when you can watch nature shows on television? Regular field trips to conduct monitoring can help.
3. An informed citizenry can be effective at shaping local governmental decisions (e.g., zoning board decision, town council meetings). Citizen scientists become a powerful voice because they have first hand knowledge, backed up by their participation in an organized program with quality assurances, giving them increased credibility.
4. Citizen scientists are participating in lifelong learning, whether it be part of a high school class project or retirees participating in the program, they are learning about sampling techniques, data analyses and science communication. In addition, they gain an appreciation about complex issues like climate change or land use alteration.
5. Citizen scientists provide a fresh set of eyes in the ecosystem. They become an early warning system for events that are occurring, such as arrival of exotic species, changes in water quality, or other ecological transitions. Thus citizen scientists can serve as sentinels.

For all of the above reasons, the Integration and Application Network is committed to working with a network of citizen scientist groups around the Chesapeake region to provide them the scientific tools, data analysis rigor and communication avenues to empower them to create and build robust monitoring programs.

Twenty-two participants from University of New England, Wells Reserve, Maine Drinking Water Program, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine NEMO Program, and six other organizations gathered to learn the principles of science communication. This enthusiastic group hit the ground running by sharing their ideas and communication strategies, providing thoughtful suggestions for others, and developing drafts of communications pertaining to their work. The great facilities at the University of New England and the hard work of organizers Chris Feurt and Zach Steele made this a most enjoyable course!

Still invigorated from our course experience, Emily and I took the opportunity to explore the southern Maine coast and learn more about another Maryland resident, Rachel Carson. Of course as scientists committed to solving not just studying environmental problems and communicating those solutions to the public, we at IAN are inspired by Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson was not only a scientist and a writer, she was an advocate for the Chesapeake Bay. When science jobs were hard to come by in 1932, Rachel wrote articles about the natural history of the Bay for the Baltimore Sun. So when we had the chance to visit a National Wildlife Refuge bearing her name and a National Estuarine Research Reserve with beautiful trails and unique education experiences, we bundled up to go exploring.

No one can doubt the beauty and uniqueness of Maine’s southern coastline. Part of its uniqueness stems from the transitioning landscapes. Eastern deciduous forest transition into boreal forest and the sandy shores of the mid-Atlantic are gradually replaced by the rocky shores of New England as you travel north. These transitions create unique habitats, 7,600 acres of which are protected by the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1966 and renamed in honor of Rachel Carson in 1969, the Refuge contains tidal marshes, estuaries, and forest ecosystems which provide nesting habitat for migratory birds, nursery habitat for fish, and forage habitat for bald eagles.

With our full winter gear donned, we set out on the Rachel Carson Trail. (Located on Route 9 between Kennebunk Port and Wells.) Even in what to us felt like the dead of winter, there were signs of life all along the trail. We heard the songs of many birds and the pecking of a frantic woodpecker. When we didn’t hear wildlife, the quiet and the stillness of the area put us in a state of awe. Amazingly, we were able to hear the ice cracking and shifting on the Merriland River, which runs adjacent to the trail. The pop of a champagne cork made us jump, and it took us a moment to realize that the pop came from a new crack in the ice directly in front of us. Remember that the Arctic air sitting over Maryland last month was an unusual event. On occasion our rivers freeze, but we were seeing something more complex than the pancake ice we experience along the Choptank River. On the Merriland River some of the ice was slanted at a 45 degree angle. Other bits of ice stuck straight up in the air like miniature glaciers. Changing salinities from tidal flow and periods of thawing and refreezing act on the ice and can result in these angles.

We continued our exploration of Maine’s southern coast at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. (Located just off Route 9 in Wells.) In addition to protecting 2,250 acres of coastal habitats, Wells Reserve also focuses on expanding knowledge of coasts and estuaries, engaging people in environmental learning, and involving communities in conserving natural resources. Wells Reserve provides both recreational and educational opportunities. Its trails allow visitors to explore barrier beach, estuary, and forest ecosystems, and the Coastal Ecology Center and Laboratory, a Coastal Resource Library help communicate the importance of coastal ecosystems and disseminate the current research conducted to understand them better. Working in partnership with Wells Reserve is the Laudholm Trust, a non-profit organization committed to protecting coastal ecosystems.

We began learning about the local ecology in a historic salt marsh farmhouse which is now home to the Visitor Center. The farm house and its outer buildings hearken back to the turn of the previous century when salt hay (spartina patens) made marsh land more valuable than upland.

After learning about the history of the place we were ready to explore some of the natural landscape. The barrier beach trail to Laudholm Beach took us through beautiful marsh and led us to the mouth of the Little River. We experienced beautiful snowy landscapes and enjoyed trying to identify animal tracks in the snow. While hiking this trail, we also discovered that we are not very good trackers.

“It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.”

- Rachel Carson

The Annapolis Synthesis Center (ASC) is designed to be a convenient and modern office for UMCES staff and as an up-to-date meeting space for IAN, UMCES and our partners. The facility has a state-of-the-art electronic large conference room with interactive video and voice conference capabilities as well as high-speed wireless connectivity and projection capabilities. Our medium conference room is a comfortable private space with high-speed wireless, conference phone, and available digital projector. We also have a semi-private meeting area that we call the small conference space. Although three private offices open into it, it is useful for casual meetings and breakout sessions. The ASC is available for meetings, training courses and workshops pending scheduling availability.

During synthesis sessions, IAN Science Integrators, Science Communicators, and/or Data Analysts can be made available, depending on the specific needs of the synthesis session. The ASC synthesis sessions are designed to produce synthetic publications in high profile scientific journals, as well as produce science communication products for broad dissemination (e.g., newsletters, brochures, posters).

The ASC is located steps away from the state capitol and legislative offices and around the corner from a host of restaurants, hotels, shops and all of historic and waterfront downtown Annapolis. Washington, DC, Baltimore, and the Baltimore-Washington Airport (BWI) are only a 30-40 minute drive.

This region is in the heart of the Coral Triangle, which is the center of the highest coral diversity in the world. Surveys around Raja Ampat show that this area has the highest marine biodiversity on earth.

IAN has been working with TNC to develop a series of conceptual diagrams depicting the benefits of MPAs for the reefs and wildlife, and the communities that depend on them for sustenance and livelihood. The major threats to the Bird’s Head/Raja Ampat region are unsustainable fishing (including longlines, shark finning, dynamite and cyanide fishing), logging (causing erosion), and mining.

Here is the latest draft of one of our diagrams, showing sustainable versus unsustainable practices.

Comments are welcome!

This weekend, we travel to the other side of the island, to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, where starting next week, we introduce the park managers and staff to science communication IAN-style.