This October 2018, I attended the 21st International Riversymposium, continuing a long-standing tradition of presIANce at this meeting on river science and management. In fact, I recall the very first Riversymposium held in Brisbane in 1998 way back when I was still a student studying the very river system that is the namesake of the annual conference. Since those days much has changed for the conference, the Brisbane River, and Moreton Bay…. all for the better.

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As part of the 21st International Riversymposium, a study tour of the Parramatta River was organized by the Parramatta River Catchment Group. The Parramatta River is the major river feeding into Sydney Harbour from the west. They were deserved finalists for the Bert and Vera Thiess Foundation Australasia Riverprize. Sarah Clift, Executive Director of the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG), and her capable staff organized a great study tour.

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It was just before 8am on a Saturday, a phrase that should never be said out loud. I was standing in Starbucks, waiting for the employees to hand me a slice of lemon cake. Why I had to wait in a drink line for a piece of cake is one of the great mysteries in life that I will never know, but I had a bigger question on my mind:

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The 21st annual International Riversymposium was held in Doltone House, Sydney, Australia 14-18 October 2018. I enjoyed the location right on the shore of Sydney Harbour and the food was superb. The theme of this year’s Riversymposium was ‘Embracing Innovation’.

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Figure 1. The Bund area of Shanghai. Many of the buildings in this area are constructed on filled wetlands, much of which was built in the 1980’s. Photo credit: Heath Kelsey.

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Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” When it comes to the environment, this is a test that many of us have not passed yet. On the one hand, humans introduce massive amounts of nitrogen into ecosystems (think fertilizers and animal manure). As a result, we see runaway algae production and low-oxygen dead-zones worldwide.

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An annual highlight with the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is the WebStock event that its Creative Team organizes. This year’s event was the largest ever, and was held at the beautiful headquarters of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, overlooking Chesapeake Bay on 11 Oct 2018. WebStock is designed to communicate, collaborate, and educate the CBP staff and key partners about the activities of its Creative Team.

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The Marine Environmental and Estuarine Science (MEES) program is a multi-campus graduate education program within the University System of Maryland. Each autumn, a MEES Colloquium is hosted by one of the campuses that sponsor MEES. The 2018 MEES Colloquium was sponsored by the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Maryland on 5-6 October.

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Just fifteen minutes past the Bay Bridge, nestled within the sanctuary of Prospect Bay on the Eastern Shore, lies the idyllic Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center--a perfect setting for this year’s IAN staff retreat. Last Wednesday, staff members--coming from Cambridge, Annapolis, and even Rochester, NY--made the trip to the CBEC for the annual tradition of team-building and workshopping as part of an ever-ongoing effort to improve IAN.

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The final meeting of the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS) project--which the Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science was a partner on--took place on 27 Sept 2018. The meeting included a visit to the New York Aquarium to view a new exhibit under construction. This exhibit will feature results from our CCERS project and the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), based at the Harbor School on Governors Island.

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