America's Watershed Initiative Summit held in Louisville, KY

Mississippi River Watershed Report Card preliminary resultsBill Dennison, Caroline Donovan, Brianne Walsh, Bill Nuttle and Heath Kelsey attended the America's Watershed Initiative Summit on October 1 and 2 to present a draft of the Mississippi River Watershed Report Card. The draft report card still needs refinement and clarification, but the presentation at the Summit was a major milestone in the development of the Version 1 Report Card. The report card project was begun over 1 year ago, and was developed through numerous workshops around the country, webinars, and conference calls. Leaders from the Mississippi River Basin discussed the Report Card, and provided useful feedback to advance the project. The report card will be finalized over the next several months by incorporating these suggestions, and will be released in Spring 2015.

Billion Oyster Project – Launch of National Science Foundation Grant in New York Harbor

Billion Oyster ProjectIAN is part of a successful National Science Foundation project underway in New York Harbor as part of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), aimed at delivering environmental restoration education to New York City public schools. The three-year, $5 million grant project, entitled "Curriculum and Community Enterprise for New York Harbor Restoration in New York City Public Schools," was officially launched on New York Harbor will be led by Pace University's School of Education and implemented by a consortium of partners including New York Harbor Foundation, New York City Department of Education, Columbia's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, New York Academy of Sciences, University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, Good Shepherd Services, New York Aquarium, The River Project, SmartStart ECS, and others. The grant will create an accredited math and science teacher training program at Pace University, an interdisciplinary Harbor Literacy and marine STEM-C curriculum for NYC schools, and develop afterschool STEM mentoring through the New York Academy of Sciences, museum and aquarium. IAN's role in the project is to develop a state of the art digital platform that will provide a portal for students and teachers to access and analyze real time water quality data, view progress of restoration efforts via underwater cameras, and access the newly developed curriculum. Team members involved in the project include Simon Costanzo, Adrian Jones, Tracey Saxby, Bill Dennison and Judy O'Neil.

State of the South Atlantic kickoff workshop

Workshop participantsThe South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SALCC) is part of a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs). The SALCC crosses six states, from southern Virginia to northern Florida. The partnership will consider landscape-scale stressors, including climate change, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and water scarcity as it attempts to provide a vision for a landscape capable of sustaining healthy populations of fish, wildlife, plants and cultural resources. Three IAN staff members-Heath Kelsey, Jane Hawkey, and Caroline Donovan-traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to kick off this project, which will synthesize indicator information for 11 ecosystems across the South Atlantic. Look for the final product in spring 2015!

IAN welcomes Catherine Krikstan

Catherine KrikstanCatherine Krikstan is a Web Content Specialist with the Chesapeake Bay Program, where she helps develop web content that tracks the progress toward the goals and outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. She has written about the Chesapeake Bay since she was a graduate student at the University of Maryland, where she first published stories about struggling watermen, rising sea levels and expanding algae blooms. She lives blocks from the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., and in her free time enjoys reading, birding and eating food grown (or caught, or brewed!) in the DMV.

On the Horizon...

  • IAN staff will be attending a summit convened by Restore America's Estuaries and The Coastal Society titled Inspiring Action, Creating Resilience near Washington, DC November 1-6.
  • Staff will be also be representing IAN at UNESCO's 2nd International Ocean Research Conference held in Barcelona November 17-21.  
  • In collaboration with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), IAN team members will be traveling to Indian State of Kerala in November to conduct workshops to develop a Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecosystem Health Report Card for Vembanad Lagoon.
  • Science for Environmental Management Course Part of the MEES Spring Semester 2015 program, MEES 689Y: Special Topics in Marine Estuarine Environmental Science is being taught by Drs. Don Boesch and Bill Dennison. Using theory, case studies, practitioner perspectives and current environmental issues as topics, this 3 credit course addresses the role of science in environmental management. Through the course, students will develop synthesis and science communication skills through tutorials, readings, and assignments. In addition, students will be trained to produce conceptual diagrams, media releases, and briefing papers.