The first Verde River Watershed Report Card was released in Arizona
The Nature Conservancy and Friends of the Verde River released the first ever Verde River Watershed Report Card on February 18 in Camp Verde, AZ. This report card evaluated indicators that reflect three distinct values in the Verde watershed: Water, Habitat, and Communities. Overall, the Verde Watershed earned a score of 57%, a C+. This score indicates that while the watershed is in moderate condition, there is still room for improvement. In particular, some of the Water indicators scored poorly--or lacked data to be scored at all. Through their joint effort, the Nature Conservancy and Friends of the Verde River hope to raise the scores of these indicators, as well as the overall watershed score, in the future.
Preparing for the Rivanna Report Card
Caroline Donovan and Nathan Miller met with Rivanna Conservation Alliance staff members in Charlottesville, VA for a report card workshop. The creation of highly engaging and data-driven communications products are key to the Rivanna Conservation Alliance's mission to inform the public about regional water quality and macroinvertebrate populations, using years of data from over 50 monitoring stations. Workshop attendees reviewed the process of data analysis for report cards as well as design and content strategies. Stay tuned for more information!
Teaching science communication to Chesapeake Research Consortium staff
Caroline Donovan and Katie May Laumann taught IAN's "Communicating Science Effectively" course to Chesapeake Research Consortium Staffers. The course was taught at the beautiful Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, where Staffers learned about all aspects of science communication, from product conceptualization to the visualization of scientific information. Participants built their communication skills through various activities, and ultimately drafted and were given feedback on posters communicating their own scientific work.
International Seagrass Biology Workshop 2020
In August 2020, IAN will be hosting the fourteenth biennial International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW14) in Annapolis, Maryland. The theme of the conference is "Signs of Success: Reversing the Course of Seagrass Degradation." Visit the ISBW14 website for more information.
Developing new international report cards
Bill Dennison and Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen will be leading an international collaboration to develop innovative report cards for iconic embayments around the world. The four-year project, called "COAST Card," will develop report cards in Chesapeake, Manila, and Tokyo Bays as well as the Goa coast of India. This project is funded through the Belmont Forum, an international partnership that mobilizes funding of environmental change research from over two dozen counties in an effort to remove critical barriers to sustainability.