We held a press conference for the release of the 2017 Chesapeake Bay report card on 15 June 2018 on the Potomac River. We used the Hyatt Hotel as the press conference venue in a new development on the Wharf area of Washington, D.C. It was a great venue in that it showcased the social and economic opportunities that a clean waterway can afford. There were new water taxis plying the river, floating wetlands alongside a nice pier, and lots of restaurants and pubs along the waterfront.

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Towards the end of April and into the beginning of May, I took a trip up the East Coast to attend the 2018 Local Solutions: Eastern Climate Preparedness Conference in the city of Manchester, New Hampshire. The conference was one I had heard about somewhat serendipitously through the Bay Brief (a weekly newsletter produced by the Chesapeake Bay Program) and my mother around the same time.

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Last month I attended the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences conference at American University in Washington, D.C. from June 20-23. This organization serves scholars who research and teach sustainability and other environmental issues through interdisciplinary lenses, and seeks to advance the "scholarship of science in service to society and the environment." The selected theme of "Inclusion and Legitimacy" was centralized in the conference discourse and culture.

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An existential appeal to "Shake things up" in socioecological systems research … Earlier this month, I attended a three-day international symposium called "Boundary Spanning: Advances in Socio-Environmental Systems Research," which was hosted by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis.

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Rich Batiuk retired after 33 years at the Chesapeake Bay Program and many of his colleagues gathered at a party, hosted by Beth McGee, at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a series of skits, songs, and speeches honoring Rich. There was a huge turnout. Bob Orth, Ken Moore, and I represented the Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) team that Rich has interacted with for three decades. We witnessed some amazing singing by Roy Hoagland, Emily Trentacoste and Matt Johnson.

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The Maryland state agencies initiated the inaugural "Maryland State of the Coast: Connecting People, Innovation and Opportunity" conference from May 21-23, 2018. This conference brought scientists, resource managers and practitioners together to discuss the coastal issues in Maryland. The conference was held at the Hyatt in Cambridge on the Choptank River. State of the Coast conference room during a break. Image credit James Currie. Bill Dennison and Don Boesch listening at the conference.

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In April, Emily Nastase and I had the opportunity to travel to Olympic Valley, California to attend River Rally 2018. River Rally, hosted annually by River Network, is a national conference for river and water champions. It brings together hundreds of people from across the United States and around the world who care about rivers and water issues. Participants this year included NGO staff and volunteers, academics, federal agencies, foundation representatives, and community leaders.

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Raleigh Hood asked Bob “JJ” Orth, Jon Lefcheck, Cassie Gurbisz and me to conduct a panel presentation and discussion at the 2018 Chesapeake Research and Modeling Symposium. This conference, sponsored by the Chesapeake Research Consortium, NOAA and the National Science Foundation, was held in Annapolis on 12-14 June 2018. Larry Sanford was the panel moderator and JJ, Jon, Cassie and I jointly presented the results of our Submerged Aquatic Vegetation synthesis (SAV SYN) team.

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I briefly summarized the workshop by highlighting the components of scale that were discussed in relation to island drought: spatial scale, temporal scale and complexity scale. In terms of spatial scale, we had discussions of global influences on island drought: El Niño/Southern Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation and Sahara dust storms.

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We recently completed a series of eight ecological drought workshops in partnership with US Geological Survey (USGS) colleagues. These workshops were held in the following regions: Alaska, Hawaii, Northwest US, Southwest US, North Central US, South Central US, Northeast US, and Southeast US. In the Southeast workshop held in Raleigh, NC, Brent Murry who is based in Puerto Rico, highlighted the unique vulnerability of islands to drought.

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