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Conservation

Asian Carp - Not just a local issue

Asian Carp - Not just a local issue

I live in the tiny little town of Dover, Tennessee. It’s not uncommon for those who live in Tennessee to ask where that is - it’s that small.  Aside from embarrassingly being known as the #6 speed trap in the US, Dover is known as the place at the base of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. History buffs will recognize it as the home of Ft. Donelson understanding it as the place that changed the course of the Civil War. The Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a 1

5/18/2020Jen Ripple
Salt. Water. Quality

Salt. Water. Quality

It's a bright Florida day as Captain Gabrielle Mercado reverses her Lady Luck Adventure charter boat out of the slip and motors towards the Choctawhatchee Bay. The emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico are just over the dunes in the intracoastal waterway, and she keeps a close eye on her GPS as she moves against the waves. Every month Captain Mercado collects water quality data and samples for local nonprofit Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA). CBA staff use the data to inform the public

11/10/2019Erika Zambello
Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay

Giddy. I don’t use the word often, but it’s the best way I can describe my demeanor as our flight touched down in King Salmon, Alaska late last August. My uncles, first time visitors to the Bristol Bay region, sat chatting a few rows ahead of me. When the plane came to a halt, I did my best “keep it cool” impression as I unbuckled, grabbed my carry-on, and walked up the aisle to meet them. As we stepped off the plane, I smirked and thought, “Holy buckets, this place is about to blow your socks

5/13/2019Jenny Weis

Latest

Kidneys of the Rivers

Kidneys of the Rivers

Freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are of extreme importance to an aquatic ecosystem’s function and health. Probably the most well-known ecosystem service that mussels provide is ‘cleaning up the water.’ They are filter feeders; meaning they get their nutrients from straining small organisms and particles out of the water. Some species are even being reintroduced to areas of poor water quality, in hopes of decreasing the sediment and pollution load. One adult mussel can filter approximately 20 gallo

5/1/2018Megan Hess
Ice Jams

Ice Jams

This has nothing to do with that delicious freezer jam or favorite winter tune.  Ice Jams are an annual occurrence where rivers freeze over and break up during spring runoff. Large “bergs” clog bends or narrowings of rivers and can be backed up in a river for miles. With consistent water pressure flowing into these natural ice dams, eventually the power of water causes the river to elevate along with the ice chunks and push itself out of its banks if the ice jam does not break free of its own ac

4/5/2017Nome Buckman
Mercury & Dragonflies

Mercury & Dragonflies

It’s always interesting for me, being an aquatic biologist and angler, to look down into the water and see the diversity of life on the bottom of a beautiful stream.  It wasn’t until recently during my time researching invertebrates, that I now go out to a stream while fishing and wonder how much mercury, a neurotoxin, is in the body of the small critter my fly is trying to resemble. Billowing smoke stacks of coal burning industries fill the Midwest.  These rolling fumes contain mercury (Hg) th

12/15/2015Megan Hess