Blog posts by Alexandra Fries
Overlooking the Verde River near Peck’s Lake. Photo: Alexandra Fries.

If the river's not flowing, is it still a river? Learning about the Verde River Watershed

Alexandra Fries ·
29 January 2019
Environmental Report Cards |     1 comments

Emily Nastase, Andrew Elmore, and I traveled to Cottonwood, Arizona in November 2018 to kick off the Verde River Watershed Report Card project. This project is supported by the Forest Service, with partners from the Friends of the Verde River and The Nature Conservancy. We started the trip with a full day in the field on November 12th, driving around the Verde Watershed and getting a feel for the region.

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Alexandra Fries with the four Belmont Forum Banners.

The Belmont Forum goes to Brazil

Alexandra Fries ·
1 December 2017
Science Communication |     1 comments

I recently traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil to help facilitate the Belmont Forum Plenary Meetings Week, November 6-10, 2017. The Belmont Forum is a group of funders that support international transdisciplinary research. This research provides knowledge for understanding, mitigating, and adapting to global environmental change. Prior to the meetings, IAN staff created materials for the event, including the agenda, a booklet, presentation templates, videos, a song, and banners.

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The cover of the report card.

The Road to Rio – The Release of the Guanabara Bay Report Card

Alexandra Fries ·
17 August 2017
Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication |     1 comments

On July 21, 2017, the Guanabara Bay Report Card was released in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is the first ecosystem health report card in Brazil, and the second report card we have done in South America. The first report card in South America was for the Orinoco River in Colombia last year. For the Guanabara Bay Report Card, we partnered with PSAM (Environmental Sanitation Program of the municipalities surrounding the Guanabara Bay) with support from the Inter-American Development Bank.

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In the meeting reviewing the Guanabara Bay Report Card. Image credit: Alex Fries

Finalizing the Guanabara Bay Report Card

Alexandra Fries ·
12 June 2017
Environmental Report Cards |     1 comments

On April 24th, 2017, Dave Nemazie and I began our journey to Rio de Janeiro. Little did we know, instead of taking 18 hours to get there, it would take 30. We flew through JFK, and a delayed flight meant we missed our connection to Rio. After spending the day in New York, we finally arrived a day after we were supposed to. Despite our travel woes, we made it to Rio and had productive meetings with our partners, Guido Gelli and Marlus Newton.

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Flying from Guam to Saipan, we passed over Rota. Photo credit: Alex Fries

Meet Saipan, one of America’s forgotten territories

Alexandra Fries ·
13 March 2017
Environmental Report Cards | 

On February 1st 2017, Heath Kelsey, Caroline Donovan, and I traveled from Guam to our last stop on the Pacific Islands trip, Saipan. Saipan is an island in the Mariana Archipelago, and is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US territory. Saipan, Rota, and Tinian are the only islands currently inhabited in the Marianas. Flying from Guam to Saipan, we passed over Rota. Photo credit:

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Using maps to prioritize monitoring.

Pursuing prioritization in Pennsylvania: The magic of more monitoring

Alexandra Fries ·
17 November 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

On October 13th, Caroline Donovan and I traveled to Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA for the Prioritization Workshop. This workshop was held as part of the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) project that UMCES is a partner of as well as Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Izaak Walton League of America, and the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM). The workshop was hosted by ALLARM at Dickinson College.

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Meeting with the Secretary.

Growing governance in Guanabara Bay

Alexandra Fries ·
10 November 2016
Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication |     1 comments

On October 4th, Dave Nemazie and I traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the third set of meetings to work on the Guanabara Bay Report Card. We presented the draft report card and report card website at the INEA (State Environmental Institute) offices to Andre Correa, the Secretary of the Environment for the State of Rio. On October 5th, we met with the secretary and his cabinet as well as other groups working on Guanabara Bay Restoration.

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The meeting was held in the ALLARM offices.

Pursuing happiness (and data integration) in Pennsylvania: the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative Retreat

Alexandra Fries ·
2 August 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | 

On June 28th and 29th, members of the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative met at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to move forward several aspects of the project. The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative is comprised of four groups with the goal of bringing together non-traditional and volunteer monitoring data throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed and integrating the data with state agencies and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

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