The Healthy Waterway Partnership started out as the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay Wastewater Management Study (BR&MBWMS), with six local councils in Southeast Queensland leading the effort in the early 1990s. The original Healthy Waterways office was located as part of the water management office of Brisbane City Council, led by Harry Holland. Shane Pearce was his 2IC (Second in Charge) regarding 'The Study'.

Read more

While on a field trip to Stradbroke Island as described in a previous blog, Dr. Brian McIntosh and I had a discussion about different types of environmental problems. I used the classification scheme of 'simple', 'complicated' and 'complex' problems (ala Glouberman and Zimmerman, 2002). Simple problems are like following a recipe in which a predictable set of results will reliably occur if the directions are faithfully followed.

Read more

For science communication training for the International WaterCentre Masters of Water Management students, we used the chapel of Cromwell College on the University of Queensland campus. It was an interesting venue for this training. My training colleague was Kate Moore, a talented Science Communicator who works as an independent contractor, associated with the International WaterCentre. Following my introduction to science communication, Kate introduced conceptual diagrams.

Read more

This blog post discusses the seminar given by Megan Ward of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance, at the IAN Seminar Series on September 28, 2010. The Nanticoke River conservation efforts have focused on protection, rather than restoration, reflecting its rural and relatively intact watershed. Megan made it clear that the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance was more interested in building partnerships than direct advocacy.

Read more

This blog post discusses the seminar given by Andrew and Diana Muller at the IAN Seminar Series on August 31, 2010. Pierre Henkart noted that the Severn River had persistent anoxia between June and September which includes noticeable hydrogen sulfide and asked why the South River anoxia was not as pronounced or persistent. Andrew and Diana discussed the increased tidal flushing in the South River compared with the Severn River with its shallow and wide sill at the Severn mouth.

Read more

The International RiverFoundation has a unique role in catalyzing groups of people around the world to achieve river restoration, protection and sustainable management. One way this catalytic role is achieved is through the celebration of exemplary case studies of positive outcomes, publicly acknowledged via the annual awarding of The International Riverprize and the Australian National Riverprize.

Read more

Environmental news is typically bad news. It is focused on negative aspects of human impacts on the environment, and often accompanied with dire predictions about the future. This propensity for dire predictions has been called the 'Cassandra syndrome', referring to Cassandra from Greek mythology who was cursed with the ability to foretell the future but nobody would believe her warnings. There is a good book entitled "Believing Cassandra:

Read more

This newsletter was interesting to put together, as it involved looking through hundreds of photographs of flood damage in the Moreton Bay watershed. Some of the photos were staggering. There were photos of tractors and automobiles crushed like small tin cans, a time sequence of water rising over a farm shed within minutes, streambeds stripped down to the bedrock, and tree roots exposed instead of being buried deep in soil.

Read more

My university teaching experience has been quite varied. I have taught first year students in massive lecture halls, graduate students in small groups, and everything in between. At the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, we teach using an interactive video network. My attitude about the large lecture setting is that the students forget what I said shortly after I say it, and I forget what I said shortly after I say it.

Read more

On Monday, I went to the University of Queensland to meet with a former student, Dr. Chris Roelfsema and his student Mitch Lyons. Chris and Mitch, who are part of Professor Stuart Phinn's remote sensing group, had worked up a seagrass risk map for Moreton Bay, based on light attenuation from the flood plume, bathymetry and knowledge of seagrass light requirements.

Read more