The National Capital Parks–East (NACE) provides a natural haven for the urbanized Washington, D.C., area. NACE includes 14 major park areas that comprise more than 8,000 acres of the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, through the eastern part of Washington, D.C., to Prince George’s and Charles counties, Maryland.

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The Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and their managing organization, the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey, have chosen the emerging climate science field of Ecological Drought as a research focus area. This newsletter highlights the outcomes of a two-day workshop held in Fort Collins, Colorado, as part of a series of meetings at each of the nation’s eight CSCs.

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New York Harbor is a large, iconic and complex body of water. The harbor is an important part of New York City and its millions of residents, and has been massively changed by human activities. These changes have altered the shorelines, water flow, plants and animals of the harbor. These drawings of New York Harbor help explain what is happening below the water surface—a look inside.

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George Washington Memorial Parkway was developed as a scenic parkway to help preserve the Potomac River Gorge and shoreline while serving as a memorial to the first President of the United States, George Washington. The Potomac Gorge is one of the most significant natural areas in the United States, and is home to more than 400 occurrences of over 200 rare species and communities.

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This book highlights perspectives, insights, and data in the coupled fields of aquatic microbial ecology and biogeochemistry when viewed through the lens of collaborative duos – dual career couples. Their synergy and collaborative interactions have contributed substantially to our contemporary understanding of pattern, process and dynamics. This is thus a book by dual career couples about dual scientific processes.

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New York Harbor is a large, iconic and complex body of water that has been extensively modified to support the development of a megacity. These modifications have affected the shorelines, water flow, water quality, habitats and living resources of the harbor. Changes in topography and bathymetry have altered the landscapes and seascapes of the region, largely to support an active shipping port and intense human settlement.

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Located approximately 35 miles south of Washington, D.C., Prince William Forest Park occupies 15,000 acres in Prince William County, Virginia. The park is the largest protected area in the region and is the third largest national park in the state of Virginia. It is also the largest example of a Piedmont forest in the national park system, and serves as a sanctuary for a diversity of plants and animals which are threatened by increasing development in northern Virginia.

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Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is a 117-acre park located approximately 18 miles west of Washington, D.C. in Vienna, Virginia. Established in 1966, the park was designated as the first national park for the performing arts. The park provides a natural sanctuary for native bird, plants, and animal species in a developing region. The natural resources of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts were assessed using the Vital Signs Framework.

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This report card was produced in December 2015 by The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and represents a joint effort of graduate students and faculty in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences program at the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg and the Integration and Application Network. The report card provides an assessment of stream health in the Upper Potomac Headwaters region upstream of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

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The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2014 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals.

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