October 1st marks the start of the 'Water Year' in the US. Each day for the next 12 months, WWF's Global Lead Freshwater Scientist, Jeff Opperman, will post one of his photos with a water theme and briefly describe why that theme is important to people. Often these themes will matter to hundreds of millions of people or even billions. Sometimes they will matter to just a few, such as Jeff and his family.
This won't be a water-year-long educational course but more like an extended contemplation on connections that matter. After all connectivity is an essential characteristic of freshwater ecosystems. And lies at the core of what makes us human.
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On this day 44 years ago the Chagrin River was designated "wild and scenic" under Ohio's Wild and Scenic Rivers program (the world's first legislated system of protected rivers). 71 miles are designated, including places my family loves to visit.
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Happy Canada Day! Niagara wine region, Lake Ontario and Toronto in distance. During our 2009 trip to Algonquin Provincial Park, I learned that Canada has a great wine region. Nestled between Erie and Ontario is grape-growing microclimate: one of many gifts that water gives to Canada.
day 273
Willie Dixon was born 108 years ago tomorrow. "Next to Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the...Chicago blues" Dixon wrote "Fishin' in My Pond," which I realize is metaphorical but for Water Year these photos worked.
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On this day in 1906, the US Congress passed the Burton Act to limit diversions from the Niagara River for hydropower projects. This protected Niagara Falls, so hundreds of millions of people could enjoy its awe-inspiring wall of water such as Paola here on a 2009 trip.
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For International Pride Day we are celebrating rivers & rainbows. Iguazú Falls in Brazil. Between Argentina (Cataratas del Iguazú) and Brazil (Cataratas do Iguaçu), this is the largest waterfall system in the world.
day 270
Yesterday was National Canoe Day! Here is Luca and I canoeing in Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario) in 2009. The family did a three-night trip in the wilderness, portaging between lakes.
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55 years ago Ohio became perhaps world’s first government to legislate system of protected rivers: Ohio Wild & Scenic Rivers preceded US W&S by 10 months. Upper Cuyahoga designated W&S on this day 1974. Photo shows Cuyahoga acting wild: channel migration and meander cutoff.
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Global Wind Day. I thought "I know I have a photo of sailboats in front of wind turbines on some freshwater waterbody." I couldn't find it but 10 days later I stumbled across photo of sailboats on Lake Ontario in front of wind turbines (Kingston, ON).
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Summer solstice a few days ago was also International Yoga Day. Here's Paola doing some yoga on a Lake Erie beach in 2009. Wren seems impressed.
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Yesterday was 54 years since the famous fire on Cuyahoga River. On the 50th anniversary, Squidsoup installed an amazing lightshow to evoke the fire in the abandoned lower level of Detroit-Superior Bridge over the river. The Detroit-Superior Bridge crosses the Cuyahoga just a bit downstream from where the 1969 fire occurred. The lower level used to carry streetcars. Cleveland had already approved major budget and policy changes just before the '69 fire under the leadership of Carl Stokes, the first Black mayor of a major American city. See my op-ed on Stokes' leadership and vision as early champion of environmental justice. The fire also helped catalyze the Federal Clean Water Act. Local, state and federal policies and investments all helped to dramatically clean up the Cuyahoga and many other rivers around the country. See my op-ed in Mongabay on the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga fire. Restoration of the Cuyahoga brought people back to the river and now it's a great asset for Cleveland, with restaurants and breweries on its banks, with beers that evoke the fire and the river's recovery. The history of Cleveland is intertwined with its water resources: the reason the city was founded, the driver of industrial growth, the problems with pollution, and recovery for a sustainable future. See my op-ed on this history, as told by beer labels. Beer is 95% water, but clean water is valuable for much more than recreation and beer. Cleaning up water pollution is one of the six actions to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss in Emergency Recovery Plan.
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Today is World Rainforest Day. The river systems with the most fish species flow through rainforests. Here is a scanned photo of Alex Wang, me and our guide Samuel crossing a stream in Meratus Mountains of South Kalimantan in 1993 (photo from Dave Allen). The Meratus Mountains are covered in montane rainforest & South Kalimantan is known as "land of 1000 rivers" for all the streams and rivers that flow from those mountains.
day 264
Summer solstice happens right now (10:57 am in EDT zone). Good day to celebrate what solar power means for rivers: the renewable revolution (lower cost of solar and wind) reduces pressure for damming rivers for hydropower. Kids at sunset on Lake Erie, 2015.
day 263
Over the weekend it was Sustainable Gastronomy Day. The relationship between diets & rivers: 1. diet choices affect water & rivers 2. healthy rivers are essential to our diets. Intergenerational knowledge transfer: preparing walleye in a cabin by Lac du Fils, Quebec.
Diet choices affect rivers. How we produce food is biggest consumer of water globally (by far) and one of primary contributors to water pollution. For example, the Colorado River is drying up and irrigating feed for cattle is almost 60% of all water used. To see how your diet choices affect water (and the climate, land, and biodiversity) explore the WWF Diet Calculator. And rivers are essential to our diets. Rivers are engines of food productivity, directly supporting nearly 1/3 of food produced on the planet. Check out our Rivers of Food report to see how rivers are essential to global food security.
day 262
Today is Juneteenth and June is Black Music Month. As the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art podcast says: "All music is Black music" and that is certainly true of rock. A thread on the Black music roots of rock - and the role of a river flood. Rock Hall on Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio.
When the Levees Broke: the flood that made rock and roll. In 1927, an epic flood on the Mississippi River killed hundreds & wreaked massive property damage. But in its wake of destruction, that flood created rock ‘n’ roll. To be fair, rock ‘n’ roll, like the Mississippi, is a seriously big river, one with many tributaries that converged to form its still-shifting channel. But one of its tributaries — and perhaps the essential one, with a gritty, longing, shuffling beat. Still pulsing unmistakably within the bigger river — sprang forth from the black mud that covered the whole Mississippi Delta when the swollen river finally slunk back to its banks in the late summer of 1927. The flood reexposed the deep racial fissures that the Delta society had worked hard to either smooth over or wish away. In the wake of the ugliness and economic upheaval, a river of rural Black people began moving north from the Delta.
day 261
Happy Father's Day! My dad, Luca (9 months old) and I along Redwood Creek in Redwood Regional Park (Oakland, CA) in 2003.
day 260
Happy World Crocodile Day to all who celebrate. American Crocodile in the Tárcoles River, Costa Rica; photo taken from "Crocodile Bridge."
day 259
Yesterday was Global Wind Day. What does wind have to do with water? This year wind surpassed 1TW global capacity. Dramatic drop in cost of wind and its rapid expansion reduces pressure to dam rivers for hydropower. Fishing sailboats in Tana River delta, Kenya.
day 258
Smoky Mountain National Park was chartered on this day in 1934. Family visiting Smokies in 2010, a picnic along Big Creek.
day 257
Celebrating Cormac McCarthy, who died yesterday. The skiff swung gently, drifting in the current. He undid his shirt to the waist & put one forearm to his eyes. He could hear the river talking softly beneath him, heavy old river with wrinkled face. From "Suttre."
day 256
William Butler Yeats born this day in 1865 and won a literature Nobel 100 years ago.
I see my life go drifting like a river
From change to change; I have been many things
A green drop in the surge, a gleam of light
Upon a sword, a fir-tree on a hill
-Fergus & the Druid
day 255
Students in Chagrin Falls Middle School compete in their "Cardboard Regatta" (homemade boats), as part of their campaign to raise funds for Water for South Sudan. This year they raised $20k, bringing 5-year total to $93k! Enough for six wells w/ clean drinking water
day 254
Wren and a friend walking in Sulphur Springs 8 years ago, in South Chagrin Reservation of Cleveland Metro Parks. This is about a mile downstream from where the same creek flows through the backyard of the house I grew up in.
day 253
EO Wilson was born this day in 1929. His book "Diversity of Life" was published same year I decided not to go to Med school in 1992 and was wondering what to do. I read it and found a direction. His first love was ants. Ants at edge of Mekong feeding on a caddisfly.
day 252
Happy Pride Month 2023! Rainbow at Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls) in Zambia.
day 251
Today is World Ocean Day. Did you know that much of what we call "seafood" comes from where rivers and oceans meet and mix? Estuaries provide 50% of fish and shellfish harvest in US by weight, 68% by value. This is an image of Luca fishing for bluefish on a tidal creek on Long Island.
day 250
Today is Global Running Day! This is a photo of WWF freshwater colleagues running at Mosi-oa-Tunya (Vic Falls) in Zambia, running in support of Mina Guli in 2019. This was a few years before her Run Blue campaign: running and water.
day 249
A hippo, with two passengers, along the Zambezi River in Zambia.
day 248
Mallard and ducklings in a wetland of Cape Fear River, North Carolina.
day 247
Wren jumping into East Austin Creek, tributary to Russian River, in Sonoma County California.
day 246
Happy World Bicycle Day! A fish investigates if it's true that "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" (Irina Dunn). River Limnat, Zurich. I visited the WWF Schweiz office in 2018 and they took me for some Limmatschwimmen for lunch! I snorkeled with fish (and a bike).
No better city for Water Year to feature for World Bicycle Day than Zurich. The WWF Schweiz
office was full of bicycles and the city full of people walking and biking to the Flussbad Oberer Letten for open swimming.
day 245
Wren returned last week after finishing freshman year at college, so here's a picture of her doing 6th grade homework on a rock in the Chagrin River (September, 2015).
day 244
A thread on rivers and reefs and how land degradation can harm reefs, with the impact delivered via rivers. While sediment from rivers is essential to maintain deltas, and sediments & nutrients promote productivity in nearshore habitats, elevated sediment levels can negatively impact reefs.
The photo is of a river discharging sediment into coastal areas of Puerto Rico that support reefs. Sediment can smother, abrade, shade, & inhibit coral recruitment (e.g. shift toward algae). Managing land to reduce excess erosion can be essential for both rivers & reefs!
day 243
Otters were extirpated in Ohio by early 1900s; Ohio Division Wildlife began recovery in 1986. Otters are now in 83 of 88 Ohio counties. Photo of otters at Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The kids always loved to see them.
day 242
Tennessee Valley Authority was founded 90 years ago this month. TVA had huge influence on its region & global water management. A thread on this influence, through the lens of the art that TVA influenced. A photo of Luca looking at fish in Big Creek (Smokies NP) in Tennessee River watershed in 2010.
day 241
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Decoration "Day"
Flowers on floodplain of the Chagrin River
day 240
Luca and his friends playing some sort of game in the Chagrin River.
day 239
Rachel Carson was born on this day 116 years ago. Her Silent Spring raised the specter of a world with toxic water and birds silenced by eating poisoned insects, but she had another book perhaps even more relevant for today. See the photo of a Carolina Wren feeding babies a fishing spider.
Carson also wrote "The Sense of Wonder," an invitation to adults to rekindle a relationship to rocks, water, bugs and stars they may have had once but lost somewhere along the way. Introducing a child to that lost world is the surest path back. She wrote: "A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
I should ask that each child should receive a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years.
The sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from our source of strength." -- Rachel Carson, "The Sense of Wonder." While Silent Spring was a letter to the world that changed the world, The Sense of Wonder feels like a letter written to you.
day 238
Yesterday was National Wine Day, so here's a picture of vineyards on the plain that slopes toward Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, Italy.
day 237
Sunrise on Mississippi River in New Orleans CCR may have written the song, but Tina Turner gave it wings. And a jet engine.
Big wheel keep on turning
Proud Mary keep on burning
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river
day 236
Earlier this month was world migratory bird day and while searching bird photos I came across this one: Luca & Wren looking for birds (see binos) in Ría Celestun Biosphere Reserve (Yucatán, Mexico).
day 235
Happy World 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲 Day! Photo of Wren holding a baby Cantor’s giant softshell turtle in Cambodia in 2013, part of a Conservation Organization recovery project for the turtle. Check out the New York Times blog: Hope Amid the Dams and Dangers.
day 234
On Biodiversity Day 2023, let's celebrate the incredible diversity of fish in the Mekong - more than 850 species. Here is Luca in 2013 with a giant gourami from Mekong in Cambodia. A new report has just been released by WWF identifying 19 new species of fish in Mekong.
day 233
Ramps season has just ended. A photo from 2016: Wren washing, in a small stream, ramps we’d just collected.
day 232
Spring along the Chagrin River.
day 231
Today is Endangered Species Day.
According to he EPA: "More than one third of threatened & endangered species live only in wetlands, & nearly half use wetlands at some point in their lives." Sunset in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (CA).
day 230
Happy 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗗𝗮𝘆! The kids in curtain of water vapor with the word "water" projected in various language. At a very cool exhibition on water Great Lakes Science Center in 2010.
day 229
I started Water Year in response to becoming empty nesters. I've had this image (on the left) of empty Great Blue Heron nests in a rookery, symbolic of kids taking flight. But the thing about Great Blue Herons & rookeries: they come back in spring. On way to pick Luca up at airport..
day 228
My social media feed is basically just photos of rivers or Bean, our part-Chihuahua pup so I can't believe I missed a chance to combine those loves: Sunday was 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗵𝘂𝗮𝗵𝘂𝗮 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆! So here's Stream Bean.
day 227
Today is Luca's 21st birthday! Here's a photo of him from April, 2014 fishing for steelhead in the Chagrin River. Everything I know about fishing, I've learned from Luca!
day 226
Did some pruning today around the house. Managed to slice the coax cable, knocking out internet. Drove to hardware store to get parts and passed a detention pond. Saw two huge snapping turtles. Looks like fighting but I think they are mating.
day 225
World Migratory Bird Day 6
Today is 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘆! A great egret in a cypress swamp. Find the link to a cute video of a spoon-billed sandpiper’s incredible journey. Will Spoonie make the finish line?
day 224
World Migratory Bird Day 5
Ruddy shelducks taking off from Indawgyi Lake in Myanmar. Shelducks breed in central and eastern Asia and over-winter in South and Southeast Asia.
day 223
World Migratory Bird Day 4
Fulvous whistling ducks in the Tana River delta, Kenya. Here's a short video celebrating migratory birds: "Flyways to Get Them Home."
day 222
World Migratory Bird Day 3
Black-necked stilts in Ria Celestún Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Stilts are shorebirds that use wetlands and shorelines, with some migrating from the United States to Mexico & Central America for the winter.
day 221
World Migratory Bird Day 2
A great blue heron in the Chagrin River (NE Ohio). Great Blue Herons undertake long-distance migrations (e.g., from Great Lakes down to Central America & Caribbean) and depend on rivers, lakes & wetlands to hunt.
day 220
This coming Saturday is World Migratory Bird Day. Wetlands, lakes & rivers are crucial habitat for many migratory birds, so all week Water Year will feature migratory birds, like these African sacred ibises in Tana River Delta, Kenya.
day 219
With passing of Gordon Lightfoot, I was reading up on Edmund Fitzgerald: the boat traveling with the Edmund Fitzgerald through the storm-the last to communicate with him and the boat that searched for survivors-was the Arthur Anderson. I remembered this photo I took in 2010 (Huron OH).
day 218
Seven-year old Luca shoulders a heavy pack at the start of a kilometer-long portage in Algonquin Provincial Park in 2009 [narrator voice: he didn't actually carry the pack].
day 217
Last weekend was Merle Fest, an incredible music festival in North Carolina. Wren and I have gone since 2014, but, now away at college, this is first year without her! We always camp at Sewerfest on grounds of a wastewater treatment plant, a real celebration of water infrastructure!!
day 216
Remembering May 4, 1970
What if you knew her and Found her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know? -Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
"These songs are things that we need right now" Jason Isbell and David Crosby introducing "Ohio."
day 215
Singer, songwriter & activist Pete Seeger born 104 years ago today.
To My Old Brown Earth:
Guard well our human chain,
Watch well you keep it strong,
As long as sun will shine.
And this our home,
Keep pure and sweet & green,
For now I'm yours
And you are also mine
day 214
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead. Gordon Lightfoot died yesterday, on Great Lakes Awareness Day. He certainly did his part to celebrate the Lakes in song Luca and a Great Lakes freighter in Cleveland, the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald's destination.
day 213
Today is 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆! This group enjoying sunset on Lake Michigan seems very aware that the Lakes generate over $50B/year for recreation and provide drinking water to 40M people from 20% of world's freshwater.
day 212
Wetland plants in an abandoned canal that leads from site of an old dam on Chagrin River (that blew out in a flood in 90's) toward a control structure and pipe that was featured in the movie Kings of Summer (see canal & pipe in film clip).
day 211
River Art 12
Henry Church Rock along the Chagrin River in South Chagrin Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks. Church was a blacksmith, spiritualist, and artist. He carved the images in the rock around 1885.
day 210
River Art 11
Rivers create habitat but not just for fish. Rivers also create and maintain habitat for iconic wildlife such as rhinos & elephants. Inspired by rhino statues. Check out Jeff Opperman's article in Forbes: Not Just Fish: Rhinos Need Rivers Too.
Kennedy Center: Green ribbons, rambunctious rivers, resets & rhinos.
day 209
River Art 10
Lake Erie as a Rothko painting (No. 11, 1963). The thread shows original photo, sunset on Lake Erie in June of 2012, no changes except for cropping, & then series of Rothkos based on different cropping.
day 208
River Art 9
Lake Erie as a Rothko painting (Untitled, 1969). The lake photo is flipped, so the water is at the top to better match the colors (original photo in next tweet); otherwise no changes to photo.
day 207
River Art 8
Left: The floodplain of the Pripyat River, Belarus (Google Earth). Right: "Gothic" by Jackson Pollock (1944). The Pripyat meanders & dances across its floodplain. A note from Pollock indicates Gothic was inspired by Picasso's "Three Dancers."
day 206
River Art 7
The Shape of Water by Celia Ledón from RiverRun festival which just finished over the weekend. The Kennedy Center produced a great video featuring voices of the artists, Henk Ovink & WWF scientists talking rivers & art.
day 205
River Art 6
Temporary art installation "Wasp's Nest" by Ron Shelton along Chagrin River. Made from discarded kitty litter containers & detergent bottles; intended to express our over-use of plastic & the problem of plastics in our rivers, lakes & oceans.
day 204
River Art 5
Happy Earth Day! A soundtrack for Earth Day. Actually 2: one from my generation & one from my daughter's (2 Spotify playlists in link). Wren's playlist includes the avett bros. Avetts in front of Cuyahoga River, CLE 2022
day 203
River Art 4
Happy birthday Rome! The eternal city has a start date: 21 April 753 BC. Today is 2776 AUC; Ab urbe condita, "from the founding of the city" Paola's dad & the 1:250 scale model of ancient Rome in Museum of Roman Civilization, with Tiber winding through thread.
day 202
River Art 3
"Of All the People In All the World" at Kennedy Center's River Run Festival. Stan’s Café Theatre creates this art in which a grain of rice equals one person. These are both art and three-dimensional infographics.
day 201
River Art 2
Kennedy Center: Raiz Campos is a brilliant graffiti artist from Brazil whose work depicts people and nature of the Amazon basin. Here is a jaguar-the most 'aquatic' of big cats-painted on a mat woven by indigenous people from fibers of a floodplain plant.
day 200
River Art 1
Is this a Google Earth image of a South American river valley? Nope - it's a rug-like tapestry woven by Alexandra Kehayoglou at Kennedy Center's River Run Festival.
day 199
Today is 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆! River corridors provide essential habitat for bats with riverine productivity an important source of insect food. Mexican free-tail bat colony, Yolo Bypass, floodplain of Sacramento River.
day 198
Like Picasso, the artistry of Lake Michigan has a Blue Period.
day 197
Happy World Art Day! Rivers have long inspired art and today, art can inspire action for rivers. Kennedy Center's River Run Festival celebrates the intertwined inspiration of art & rivers. This coming week I'll feature art from the Kennedy Center. Check out my blog post about art and rivers.
day 196
Today is World Dolphin Day - six species of river dolphin swim across Asia & South America. Truly an amazing site to see a dolphin breathing or breaching in a river. Learn all about river dolphins here. The photo is an infographic that Wren made on cooperative fishing between people and river dolphins in Irrawaddy River, Myanmar. Check out the blog post in New York Times about conservation issues for river dolphins in the Mekong and the blog post in Forbes about the amazing practice of cooperative fishing between river dolphins and people in the Irrawaddy River, Myanmar.
day 195
Crossing to Safety Today is 30th anniversary of the passing of Wallace Stegner, a writer of a non-fiction water classic (Beyond the 100th Meridian) & novels with beautiful writing Kids crossing Wiley Creek (2008), a creek that's always a challenge to cross. Wiley Creek is a tributary to the Chagrin River. In summer you can walk through the creek; winter and spring it can be a challenge. Not sure what happened to these boulders from 2008 - sometimes we had to wade, sometimes large wood is used that spans the creek. I'm re-reading Stegner's Crossing to Safety right now, a story of friendship, career, family, & how those change with aging and the passage of time. It reads a bit differently at 52 compared to when i first read it at 28...
day 194
The Great Steelhead Rescue 11 years ago, dozens of river monsters showed up in our backyard creek. A story of blown-out dams, bucket-brigade rescues, & a neighborhood in love with giant fish. Story in this article in Outsider Magazine.
day 193
One of my best wildlife photos: matriarch of the Salmon River wolf pack on Vancouver Island. Just kidding, it's International Pet Day and that's Birch crossing the Chagrin River.
day 192
Recently concluded UN Water Conference featured evolving view of water: from resource to source of multiple values when managed within resilient systems. Nature based solutions improve water quality, decrease flood risk, & provide recreation & habitat in cities.
day 191
Just got back from a weekend visiting Wren at college. Here's a photo from five years, Wren kayaking on Indawgyi Lake, Myanmar, one of the largest lakes in Southeast Asia.
day 190
Sulphur Springs in South Chagrin Reservation in Cleveland Metroparks.
day 189
I’ve managed to post a water-themed photo for 188 days straight & then realized it’s ten to midnight on day 189 & I better find a photo on my phone. So here’s clouds & their shadows on Lake Erie from two weeks ago. I have good excuse…it’s my birthday
day 188
Tomorrow is World Health Day. Running along rivers - or really any time spent along rivers - is good for physical and mental health. Here’s an essay from Amy Kober on mental health benefits of time spent along rivers.
day 187
Free-flowing rivers are Born to Run. I saw Bruce Springsteen in 2009. I had just started writing about conservation & wrote one of my 1st posts about what we can learn from Springsteen. Luca posed for the photo. 14 years later Luca & I are going to Springsteen tonight!
day 186
A celebration of Muddy Waters. Blues legend Muddy Waters was born on this day 110 years ago. Though too much sediment can be problem, muddy waters also build: land, civilization, music. Drone photo from my son of a confluence of two rivers, one carrying lots of sediment.
day 185
Our 1st civilizations arose in river valleys as people learned to plant crops in rich soil left behind from centuries of floods. More than crops emerged: so did art & culture. The Kennedy Center celebrates that story with RiverRun Festival. RiverRun is a festival celebrating "the world’s rivers, the cultures they have spawned, & their role as life-sustaining and art-inspiring arteries that course through our planet."
day 184
Small boat on the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay, Myanmar, November 2016.
day 183
Setting the nets, Mekong River, Laos. Rivers are central to the food, culture and art of people all over the world. On Tuesday, the Kennedy Center kicks of the RiverRun festival. The River Run festival celebrates "the world’s rivers, the cultures they have spawned, and their role as life-sustaining and art-inspiring arteries that course through our planet."
The Mekong will be featured on April 7. "In Mekong: SOUL, Emmy Award®–winning musician Vân-Ánh Võ, composer Jonathan Berger, & the Apollo Chamber Players tell three powerful and multi-sensory stories about life on the Mekong River of Southeast Asia."
My take in Forbes on the long history of rivers inspiring art and how, at this crucial time, art can inspire action for rivers. Art, Culture, And Food: A River Runs Through Them
DAY 182
Steelhead in an unnamed tributary of Chagrin River, which flows thru backyard of our old house. At least unnamed on USGS & other maps. My daughter gave it a name: Cosmo Zooey. We had a great adventure there with steelhead 11 years ago.
day 181
It's Opening Day for baseball, one of the sure signs that Spring is here, or at least trying hard to get here. Luca working on his fastball along the Tiber River in Rome, 2010.
day 180
Yesterday was 60th anniversary of release of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. We hadn't let Luca see that movie yet, but he had learned to count & he didn't seem to like the number of seagulls between him & L. Erie.
day 179
On day 179 of Water Year we mark 179th anniversary of founding of Chagrin Falls, OH in March, 1844. I've been taking photos of the High Falls on Chagrin River for 16 of those years, showing its changing beauty over the seasons & also...hydrological variability.
day 178
Who's the greatest mudskipper of them all?
Who can skip thru mud with the greatest of ease?
What kind of wonderful guy?
Who can crawl w/ out scraping his knees?
Who's got segmented eyes?
It's Muddy Mudskipper Mudskipper, Mekong Delta, Vietnam; lyrics: Ren & Stimpy
day 177
Happy 99th birthday to Hocking Hills State Park - the most visited park in Ohio. The first purchase of land for the park was in 1924; somewhere I read it was on March 26, but can't find that again! Waterfall at Ash Cave.
day 176
Today is Paola's birthday! Paola and the kids on the Mekong River in northern Cambodia, a decade of water years ago.
day 175
It's National Puppy Day. But what kind of world will this puppy grow up in? A world with healthier rivers & wetlands due to the Freshwater Challenge launched yesterday at the UN Water Conference!
day 174
Start spreadin' the news, the Journey of Water ended in NYC. Run Blue campaign of Mina Guli culminated in NYC. If you're in NYC for UN Water and NYC Water Week come to the event this evening featuring Mina & the Journey of Water documentary.
day 173
On World Water Day we celebrate people who run for rivers because rivers run for people. We celebrate the work to keep rivers connected & to repair & reconnect where we can & we celebrate the power of water to help us stay connected to each other & to what matters.
DAY 172
Today is Day 6 of biggest World Water Run ever and also International Day of Forests, with the theme Forests and Health. As exercise, running through forests is very healthy for people; running through forests is also healthy for rivers for clean water.
day 171
Day 5 of biggest World Water Run ever. It's also World Frog Day! Among all aquatic animals (<500 g weight division), I'd guess frogs are the fastest runners. Join Mina Guli & 1000s of people (& frogs) across the world for World Water Run.
day 170
Day 4 of biggest World Water Run ever. This is clearly a freshwater photo, but how is it a running photo? The fish are running behind us. Luca & I watching salmon run up the Tuolumne River, California in 2002. In the selfie with him and me in the river you can see him looking right at the turbulence of salmon battling for position. May be why he's so into fishing.
day 169
Day 3 of biggest World Water Run ever when running in Rome in 2018. Clearly a running photo, but how is it a freshwater photo? Those are the Baths of Caracalla behind her; built around 210 CE, they were Rome's 2nd largest public baths, fed by the 91 km Acqua Marcia.
day 168
Day 2 of biggest World Water Run ever. The photo is of the WWF team 4 years ago after (collectively) running marathon at Mosi-oa-Tunya (Vic Falls). This year, Mina Guli is finishing 200 marathons in 1 year for water and here is a theme song to celebrate that.
day 167
Today is Day 1 of the biggest World Water Run ever (Mar 16-22). Add your voice (and kms!) to global call for action next week at the UN Water Conference. 4 years ago, the WWF freshwater Africa team was running for water at the Mosi-oa-Tunya (Vic Falls).
day 166
#JourneyOfWater 11
To recap Journey: water doesn't come from a tap, but from nature. Nature protects water for 10M in New York City. As rivers, water provides diverse benefits nature based solutions = multiple benefits, including access to nature Documentary for NY water week and UN Water.
day 165
Journey of Water 10
Today is the Day of Actions for Rivers. This Journey has focused on water as an essential resource that comes from nature. But too easy to think of water as *just* a resource, a commodity measured by volume. In the form of a river, diverse other values emerge. Rivers aren't just flows of water, they are also flows of sediment; silt & sand carried by rivers build & maintain deltas, home to 500 million people & crucially important agricultural regions. Rivers build land, crucial for adapting to climate change; Amazon & Nile deltas. Rivers that remain connected to floodplains are vitally important for reducing flood risk. Through their water, sediment, nutrients & habitat, rivers directly support nearly 1/3 of all food produced on the planet. Oceans have 10,000 times more water by volume...but rivers & other freshwater habitats have more fish species! Oceans have 10,000 times more water by volume...but rivers & other freshwater habitats support about 40% of all fish production (capture & aquaculture combined). And of course river water is essential as a resource that can be measured by volume, providing drinking water to 2 billion people. Photos show a river in Catskills, part of NYC water system that provides drinking water to nearly 10 million people. Today is also International Butterfly Day, so let's remember that rivers aren't just important for aquatic species, they also provide habitat and movement corridors for terrestrial animals, from butterflies to elephants. Rivers and muddy waters create land. But rivers and Muddy Waters also created rock and roll. The Mississippi flood of 1927 was a major driver of the Great Migration of black people from rural south to cities such as Chicago. The delta blues also traveled north and...in Chicago, the delta blues got plugged in and became the Chicago Blues (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf & others). Rock ‘n’ roll is a big river w/ many tributaries, but its true heart may be the primal beat & yearning soul of the electrified Delta Blues. All of these values of rivers--food source, resource for risk reduction & climate adaptation, biodiversity powerhouse, cultural foundation--are described in our report Valuing Rivers.
day 164
Journey of Water 9
The jourey of water is not just source to sea. Like me flying back to Ohio from NYC, water also makes a round trip, flying sea to source in the form of clouds and landing as precipitation - as I could see from airplane window taking off from NYC.
day 163
Journey of Water 8
Our Journeyof Water ended on east end of Long Island, intersecting with my own family's journeys. For 20 years, we visited family in East Hampton & Hampton Bays, where Luca learned to fish for "snappers" that move into tidal creeks in August.
day 162
Journey of Water 7
Broodstock oysters that support aquaculture on Long Island, NY. If they don't evaporate, the journey of most water molecules on land ends in the sea. Clean freshwater flowing into bays & estuaries is essential for productive coastal fisheries.
DAY 161
Journey of Water 6
Multipurpose benefits of nature based solutions, this time with feelings! Journey included Groundwork HV students & Adam Met from AJR Brothers, at a wetland at Snug Harbor. Later, students were asked to put nature based solutions in their own words - they answered with love.
DAY 160
Journey of Water 5
Glass eels (aka babies coming from Sargasso Sea) collected at a fish ladder on Richmond Creek, Staten Island, part of NYC Water Blue Belt which combines nature based solutions for stormwater management with restoration & public access to nature.
day 159
Journey of Water 4
I've been sharing a Journey of Water focused on NYC. But on 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆 we should remember that far too many women walk kilometers every day to access clean water (photo: Kenya 2011). Check our why the water crisis is a women's crisis.
DAY 158
Journey of water 3
New York City water starts in "forever wild" forests & well-managed land, flows to reservoirs & then down 100s of miles of tunnels & aqueducts to reach the taps of nearly 10 million people &, crucially, every day, millions of bagels & pizza crusts.
DAY 157
Journey of Water 2
Ashokan Reservoir, NY
The New York City water system was a feat of labor & has been called a marvel of engineering & gold standard for urban water supply All true, but what stands behind it? The photo shows: natural systems are the system's foundation.
DAY 156
Journey of Water 1
Our journey started high in the Catskills of NY. This crystal clear stream will be in New York City faucets in a few months. It's the largest unfiltered water system in U.S. Why? Dedication to healthy land, soils & forests at the source.
DAY 155
Wrapping up 4 days in & around NYC filming Journey of Water exploring where New York City water comes from & nature based solutions to water & nature challenges. For next week, water year will show the journey. New York City eventually worked with local communities & land owners to improve protection of land & improve water quality in its system. A great example of nature based solutions for water that also provides recreation for people and habitat.
DAY 154
Today is World Wildlife Day. Rivers aren't only important for aquatic wildlife, they also provide crucial habitat and migratory corridors for terrestrial wildlife, such as these elephants following the Zambezi in Zambia
DAY 153
A stream in the Catskill Mountains of New York the day after the region's first real snowfall - which happened on the last day of February.
DAY 152
7 Wonders of the Water World - #8 Your Local River
Turns out that if you count up the 7 wonders of the ancient world, you get to 8. So the 7 wonders of the water world also has 8, and the 8th is whatever stream, river, pond, lake or wetland near to you.
Day 151
7 Wonders of the Water World - #7 Laurentian Great Lakes
2 lessons: Freshwater systems underpin economies! (Great Lakes directly generate > 1.5 million jobs) and freshwater systems can come back! Today is 55th anniversary of the Ohio Scenic Rivers Act, one of many steps to restore the lakes. Spanning nearly 100,000 square miles, the Great Lakes are largest freshwater system on planet, holding approximately 20% of all the world's fresh (surface) water.
Day 150
7 Wonders of the Water World - #6 Freshwater systems of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA).
Freshwater systems are crucial for terrestrial wildlife! KAZA features iconic freshwater systems & amazing wildlife, which depend on the water. At 520,000 km2, KAZA is roughly the size of France and 50x the size of Yellowstone National Park, spanning territory across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It encompasses iconic water features: the Okavango Delta, the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls.
Day 149
7 Wonders of the Water World - #5 Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia).
Freshwater holds magic! "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water" (Loren Eiseley, 1957). Plitvice is a magical landscape of cascading lakes connected by streams & waterfalls. Calcium carbonate in the water precipitates out to form natural dams, called tufa barriers, that separate the lakes into a sequence of steps, w/ falls and beautiful streams flowing through the forest between lakes. Depending on levels of minerals (and angles of sunlight), the water color ranges from emerald green to deep blue to dull grey. Everywhere the water is crystal clear so you can just look down and see fish, such as trout or pike, swimming around. (Photo from 2016)
Day 148
7 Wonder of the Water World: #4 Springs, caverns & groundwater of Texas
Freshwater is essential but often hidden and overlooked! Groundwater provides 55% of water used in Texa; like much of the world, that groundwater is declining, threatening supplies & unique ecosystems.
Photos are from Jacob's Well near Wimberley, Texas. Artesian spring in karst geology of Texas hill country; cave is 40 m deep. Flow was once so strong it pushed 2m into air & never went dry. Due to regional water extraction, flow much diminished & has gone dry 5 times since 2000.
Day 147
7 Wonders of the Water World: #3 Amazon River basin
Freshwater systems are massive! Tiny boat on a tiny tributary in the massive Amazon basin. Much of my Water Year has focused on raising kids; but this is from time long before. Research trip to the Amazon in 1995, which eventually led to a paper 27 years later (see Twitter thread). The Amazon is by far the largest river in world by volume: 20% of all river water discharged to oceans is from Amazon; same volume as next 7 primary rivers!
Day 146
7 Wonders of the Water World: #2 Iguazú Falls
Rivers are awe-inspiring! Rivers provide water, but they can also take your breath away. Between Argentina (Cataratas del Iguazú) and Brazil (Cataratas do Iguaçu), this is the largest waterfall system in the world. The name Iguazú comes from the Guarani or Tupi words "y", meaning "water", and "ûasú "[waˈsu], meaning "big".
Day 145
7 Wonders of the Water World - #1 Mekong River
Rivers are organic machines for food production. The Mekong hosts the most productive freshwater fishery in the world (over 2 million tons - approx. 20% global freshwater harvest - valued at $10+ billion annually) & its delta produces more than 1/2 of Vietnam's staple crops and 90% of its rice for export.
Connectivity is the key to productivity as it enables natural flow of water, sediments and nutrients. Mekong connectivity is threatened by hydropower dams. But there are solutions - which are highlighted in our fabulous microsite - Rivers of Food.
Day 144
Anthony Hurford proposed a "7 Wonders of the Water World" series. I'll try with hese caveats:
1. rules of Water year + has to be my photo, so wonders limited to where I've been
2. just my brainstorm = not definitive; offer your list!
Starting tomorrow on Day 145
Day 143
Today is World Day of Social Justice. Decisions about water infrastructure, particularly dams, have long struggled to fully consider social justice.
This photo is from a 2010 rally: a song from activists & children of Temacapaulin, a Mexican town that could disappear beneath a reservoir. The dam was delayed for years but now appears to be moving forward.
Day 142
Don't call it debris, ChatGPT! I asked ChatGPT about trees & stream habitat.
GPT: Trees provide large woody debris etc
Me: Isn't 'debris' a pejorative term?
GPT: You are correct, how about large woody material?
Photo of wood & complex habitat, Chagrin River, Ohio, USA
Day 141
I missed that yesterday was Random Acts of Kindness Day! Here's a cute little random act of kindness between Luca and Wren from the summer or 2009 in a waterfall on the Chagrin River. It also is the setup to one of my favorite pictures - which I have used as the cover photo for this Water Year.
Day 140
Tourists at the confluence where two rivers form the Irrawaddy in Myanmar, just above canceled Myitsone hydropower dam.
IRENA report just called for doubling global hydropower, which would have devastating impacts around the globe - and is unnecessary. See what a doubling of hydropower would mean, including damming the Irrawaddy, in my Twitter thread
Day 139
"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness" - John Steinbeck.
And sometimes the warmth of summer makes a cameo - balmy yet weirdly disorienting - in the middle of winter.
Birch by Chagrin River on the warmest Feb 15 recorded in NE Ohio
Day 138
It’s World Hippos Day! Hippos in Zambezi River, Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia, 2009.
My first time seeing hippos in wild - or any of the big wildlife of Africa; just incredible to see.
Day 137
Freshwater's contribution to Valentine's Day.
Locks signifying lovers' commitments on the Mesarski Most, a footbridge crossing the river Ljubljanica in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia; from 2011.
Day 136
A green heron in the mangrove forest of Sian Kaʼan Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Photo taken in 2010 on a trip w/ my sister and her family; my kids & their cousins found jaguar tracks in forest near our little cabins.
Day 135
It's Superbowl Sunday, so here's a freshwater football photo: my Dad and Luca playing football in Lake Erie in 2010. And what did we see that day? A Bald Eagle. So my freshwater-influenced pick for the game is the Eagles!
Day 134
Wren studying benthic ecology, Chagrin River 2013 Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science! Check out this inspiring video from WWF Science: interviews with WWF's Women in Science sharing why they love being a scientist.
Day 133
On thin ice...an ephemeral pool on the floodplain of the Chagrin River (NE Ohio) that froze last weekend & now melting under record-breaking warmth. 68F (20C) in Cleveland yesterday - warmest early February day ever recorded (typical high is 37F, 3C). Past 7 years had 7 days in the 60s in early February in Cleveland; in previous 43 years only 2 such days! It is certainly nice to walk around on a balmy Feb day, but its warmth is actually chilling for what it portends for global shifts in storms, fires, & food production
Day 132
Five years ago, Luca on a boat leaving Shwe Myitzu Pagoda, the "floating pagoda" of Indawgyi Lake in Myanmar, one of the largest lakes in Southeast Asia. My blog post in Forbes about Indawgyi Lake, fisheries and hydropower in Myanmar.
Day 131
Barton Springs Pool, created within Barton Creek in Austin Texas, is fed by four springs fed by water from Edwards Aquifer. Water temp is near 70F (21C) all year & this freshwater feature is "heart and soul" of Austin. Also home for Barton Springs Salamander. The Pool is popular year-round but is particularly beloved during Austin's hot summers. Huge crowds gather to swim in the cool, refreshing water welling up from underground. Barton Springs Salamander is lungless & on endangered species list. Once thought to be restricted to Barton Springs, but has been found a few other places nearby. Likes clear water at opening of springs but can also go subterranean
Day 130
Jacob's Well near Wimberley, TX. Artesian spring in karst geology of Texas hill country; cave is 40 m deep. Flow was once so strong it pushed 2m into air & never went dry. Due to regional water extraction, flow much diminished & has gone dry 5 times since 2000. Efforts are underway to protect recharge zones and manage water, but the surrounding region is undergoing dramatic growth. Fish swimming near surface are mostly sunfish, but deep in the cave are cave-adapted crustaceans and the Fern Bank salamander (Eurycea pterophilia) This report prepared for@txst has great info and photos.
Day 129
A huge cypress along Cypress Creek in Wimberley, Texas in the Hill Country near Austin.
Day 128
Fly on, little wing.
Jimi, Stevie
Stevie Ray Vaughan statue along Lady Bird Lake (the Colorado River of Texas) in Austin.
Day 127
Sunset on Chao Praya, Bangkok, January 2016
Day 126
Birch crossing Wiley Creek in a blizzard. She turns 12 this month, still tough as nails.
Day 125
Happy World Wetlands Day to those who celebrate! And really, most people of the world should celebrate due to wetlands' diverse benefits.
Photo of Paola, Wren & Nonno paddling in a floodplain wetland of Roanoke River, an area protected by The Nature Conservancy
Day 124
Today is birthday of 2 great writers of powerful reflections on rivers: Langston Hughes (1901 -1967) and Jason Isbell (b. 1979).
Hughes wrote "A Negro Speaks of Rivers" when he was 17 after he crossed the Mississippi while traveling from his home in Cleveland Ohio to visit his father who was living in Mexico. Published in 1921 in The Crisis, it marks start of his literary career. 99 years later Jason Isbell wrote "Rivers," a beautiful merging of various strands of American river songs, a confluence of the tributary of somber songs, rivers as crime scenes & disasters, with a tributary of celebration, of rivers of healing & solace.
Day 123
Rafts, rainbow, & dark clouds looming, Colorado River, 2009.
Due to decades of historic drought, Lakes Mead & Powell - the 2 largest reservoirs in US - are approximately 3/4 empty. Fed government gave a deadline of today for 7 states that depend on the Colorado river to reach consensus on substantial cuts to their water use. "Federal officials in June called for the seven states to come up with plans to drastically reduce water diversions by roughly 15% to 25%." Today, they missed the deadline.
Day 122
Luca @ an ice wall near Chagrin River in 2008. Just rocks today at the end of January, 2023. Other worrying signs, including snowfall in Ohio is near record lows; only 9 inches so far for Cleveland compared to an average of 28 inches that normally falls by late January. And Great Lakes ice cover is also near historic lows. Ice covers only 0.06% of Lake Erie, typically it's 50% covered this time of year. New York City just broke record for latest measurable snowfall (previous record was January 29, 1973) and will soon break record for longest stretch without snow (332 days, set in Dec. 2020) - and no snow in 10-day forecast...
"Enjoy the weather but worry for the climate" - Jesse Jenkins.
Day 121
A boat on its way to Mexcaltitán in Nayarit, Mexico, a small town in a beautiful setting in the estuary of Rio San Pedro, the last free-flowing river in the western Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico. The Rio San Pedro will remain free flowing because under Mexican law, an Environmental Water Reserve was established for the San Pedro, protecting it from being dammed, allowing it to continue to deliver water, sediment and nutrients to the highly productive Marismas Nacionales (National Wetlands, Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar site), home to a large (200,000 hectare) mangrove forest.
Day 120
A saddle-billed stork flies low over the Zambezi River in Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia (taken in 2009). A huge wading bird: can reach height of nearly 5 feet (150 cm) & feeds on aquatic prey such as fish, mollusks, frogs, and crustaceans.
Day 119
It's hard to believe it's been 10 yrs since we wrapped up our trip down the Mekong river. Over holidays we played ultimate frisbee & I collided with that little guy, who is now 6'2". I bounced off him & he kept running while I lay on ground with a throbbing shoulder...
Day 118
Last night was Burns night, so a toast to Robert Burns (b. 1759) - the national poet of Scotland and called by some "nature's bard" for his frequent use of nature imagery
Among the heathy hills & ragged woods
The roaring Fyers pours his mossy floods;
Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds,
Where, thro' a shapeless breach, his stream resounds.
Full poem, "Lines On The Fall Of Fyers Near Loch-Ness," at this link
The image of whisky bottles was from Singleton Whisky from Glen Ord distillery in Muir of Ord, Scotland.
Day 117
Hazel M. Johnson-the "mother of environmental justice"-was born on this day in 1935. She was a tireless and effective advocate for clean air & water for neighborhoods in Chicago. See her bio in this link.
AlexRenew, which manages wastewater for Alexandria VA, named a tunnel boring machine "Hazel" in honor of Hazel Johnson. The tunnels will help reduce discharge of untreated sewage into the Potomac River during storm events.
Chicago River at sunset.
Day 116
𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! Some of the best education kids can get is time in nature; streams & rivers are some of the most effective classrooms. Luca nets a crayfish while Wren observes those they already caught. Photos are from 2009; a decade later, they both worked stories of time spent in rivers into their college application essays. Note...no crayfish were harmed during the 'lesson'.
Day 115
Snowstorm with wet, clingy snow transforms the Chagrin River into a winter wonderland.
Day 114
Snowy Sunday along the Chagrin River.
Day 113
Southern carmine bee eaters fly near their nest holes in a bank of Zambezi River in Zambia. River migration creates the steep cut banks they use for protected nests.
Day 112
Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy
Easy, you know the way it's supposed to be
And it's a fair wind
Blowin' warm out of the south over my shoulder
Guess I'll set a course and go
Wooden Ships, David Crosby (1941-2023)
Ship crossing Lake Geneva @ Montreux
Day 111
A boat at sunset in the Si Phan Don, or “Four Thousand Islands,” stretch of the Mekong in Laos. Ten years ago, I wrote about our trip down Mekong & the declining fish catch in this region & elsewhere along the river in a blog for the New York Times
https://archive.nytimes.com/scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/casting-for-fish-in-the-mekong/
Day 110
55 years ago, Ohio became perhaps the world’s first government to legislate a system of protected rivers: Ohio Wild and Scenic Rivers preceded Federal Wild & Scenic legislation by 10 months. Grand River was the second protected river, 49 years ago this week.
This is Luca kayaking on the Grand last summer.
Day 109
Looking for trolls..at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Tomorrow at 9 am i'll be on WKSU Sound of Ideas talking about Great Lakes & water issues, including how 'natural infrastructure' such as forested wetlands can protect water quality
Day 108
Happy 19th birthday Wren!
Dropped her off at airport this morning as she heads back to school & the nest - after a month bursting at the seams - is empty once again. Photo is Wren 10.5 years ago in the Chagrin River
Day 107
From a hike yesterday in Whitesburg Preserve in Chagrin Falls.
A small channel winds across the floodplain of the Chagrin River. After a few gray weeks, the sun made a welcome return yesterday and today.
Day 106
With heavy rain, its bank do fill,
As the river churns and flows.
When it snows it’s prettier still,
Yet the channel is locked and froze.
But hard rain overtaken by winter chill,
Then you can see both flows and fresh snow.
Chagrin River in Chagrin Falls OH
Day 105
Couldn't think of what to post today so just grabbed this of Sulphur Springs during a small flood (Feb 08). This is the same creek that was behind the house where I grew up in the 1970s & 80s (a bit upstream from here).
Randomly selected for Water Year day 105? Not at all...105 is address of that house!
Day 104
Flooded Yolo Bypass (2004). Bypass is 60,00 acres of floodplain connected to the Sacramento River, which conveys floodwaters during biggest events, such as what is hitting California now. "Extreme events" are #2 on World Economic Forum's list of biggest global risks. Floodplains can help!
Bypass also provides productive habitat for native fish & birds. Juvenile salmon grow faster on the bypass than in the river. But wait, there's even more... The Bypass also provides groundwater recharge, "capturing" some of the floodwater flowing towards he sea & storing it for later use. Also provides wildlife habitat (including the largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in California), hunting and recreation, and open space in rapidly urbanizing area.
Day 103
Irrawaddy River at Myitkyina, Myanmar in 2018.
Many colleagues and I just released a paper demonstrating how the renewable revolution can allow countries to build low-carbon grids while keeping rivers like Irrawaddy free flowing.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1036653/full
Day 102
My Dad turns 80 today! And my daughter turns 19 in a few days.
Here they are approximately 19 years ago in the beautiful canyon of the South Yuba River.
Day 101
An American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in Everglades National Park, from 2008, taken from a canoe with my kids sitting silently next to me. Pretty good example of "lower teeth visible" characteristic to distinguish crocs from gators whose "lower teeth are hidden".
Day 100
Kids playing in the Mekong River in a village in Laos upstream of Luang Prabang (2012). The Mekong Monitor recently tweeted images showing construction underway on the Luang Prabang dam, which would turn this stretch of river into a long reservoir - and have major impacts downstream on people and nature.
Day 99
Can you help me to find Nevada, California? (Jayhawks)
Deer Creek in the snow, Nevada County, California.
Day 98
Today is National Bean Day! And while I think they probably mean the legume, I'll take this chance to showcase my little dog, Bean, in some big water. Here he is riding a raft on Lake Erie.
Day 97
In 2012, we explored a wild stretch of the Mekong in Cambodia south of the Laos border. It was a magical place of river dolphins, labyrinthine channels through islands & trees growing bent over from past floods. Now proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here's a blog in the New York Times about travelling through this riverscape.
Kids playing hide & seek on an island
Day 96
5 yrs ago we took a trip down the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar and got to see cooperative fishing between river dolphins & fishermen (& women). Read by blog in Forbes on the river dolphins & how the renewable revolution can reduce hydropower risk to the Irrawaddy - and its most iconic species.
Day 95
Last week was 50 years since the full ban on DDT in the US went into effect (12/31/1972). Before the ban, there were only 417 eagle nests in the entire lower 48 states. Now, the population is estimated at 317,000 eagles.
Bald Eagle, The Nature Conservancy, Emiquon Preserve (IL)
Day 94
152 years ago this week, floodwaters were still receding in Rome from the "Great Flood" of December 29, 1870. Luca standing below the line marking the flood height on wall of Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which also shows other historic floods.
All across Rome, plaques and lines marking the height of historic floods can be seen...
https://www.prphbooks.com/blog/tiber
Day 93
Happy New Year!
Day 1 of Calendar Year 2023 is day 93 of Water Year 2023. Read my blog about why I'm doing this.
New Year snowball fight by semi-frozen Chagrin River. Luca's snowball about to land on his young cousin hiding behind an ineffective shelter.
Day 92
Let's raise a glass to rivers in 2023!
Happy New Year!
Day 91
Winter Moon by Charles N. Holmes
Brightly the moon like a jewel is beaming,
White in the east, o'er a lone landscape gleaming.
Over the meadows and over the snow,
Glimmering, shimmering, silvery glow.
Cold is her gleam upon river and rill.
Day 90
Ten years ago today, first swim in the Mekong. Read my blog post in the New York Times on the beginning of that trip.
Day 89
Happy 49th birthday, Endangered Species Act! The ESA went into effect this day in 1973. Alligators were in danger of extinction due to hunting & were one of 1st species listed under the ESA. They are now considered fully recovered and off the list.
This is a photo of mine of an alligator in Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, USA
Day 88
10 years ago, on our family trip down Mekong, Wren and I saw the sad sight of an Irrawaddy dolphin that drowned when tangled in fishing lines (I wrote an NY Times blog about this). Recent deaths of 3 more of these critically endangered river dolphins in Cambodia highlight need for urgent action on freshwater ecosystems and species. There were only 89 river dolphins in 2020 so immediate action is needed to halt “recent increase in illegal fishing activities in dolphin conservation areas”. Here's another NY Times blog of mine on WWF-Cambodia's effortst to protect and restore river doplhins.
Day 87
Ten years ago, my kids woke up for 2012 Christmas morning on banks of the Mekong river (here on a bridge to small island). Now on Xmas 2022 they are home from college, standing above frozen Sulphur Springs.
Here's my New York Times blog post of that Mekong Xmas - https://archive.nytimes.com/green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/beyond-the-myth-the-bounteous-mekong/
Day 86
Merry Christmas! First photo was before the big storm and cold temperatures hit the US. Here’s one afterwards - from yesterday. Both photos are of the Chagrin River in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
Day 85
Twas the night before Christmas,
The outside wind it was surgin'.
But inside none felt the cold,
Not even the sturgeon.
Stay warm, and Merry Christmas!
Day 84
On the first day of rivers, My true love gave to me... A kingfisher in a thorn tree.
Two river dolphins. Three crocodiles. Four baby gators...
Five waterfalls. Six salmon spawning. Seven Ibis feeding...
Eight water striders. Nine storks a flying. Ten hippos wading..
Eleven bee eaters flapping. And twelve ducks a rising!
Day 83
This week, in 546, Rome fell to Totila, the Ostrogoth king. It was the final "fall of Rome".
Water infrastructure was the foundation of ancient Rome but also a vulnerability. Several sieges, including that of the Ostrogoths, blocked aqueducts to help bring the city to its knees.
My daughter, Wren fills abottle at the Fontana di Ponte Sisto.
Day 82
Happy Winter Solstice for the northern hemisphere as the sun sets into the longest night of the year - but each day will be longer starting tomorrow. Frozen falls of a tiny tributary of the Chagrin River (NE Ohio)
Day 81
A Winter Sunset, by Lord Alfred Douglas
The frosty sky,
like a furnace burning.
The keen air, crisp and cold,
And a sunset that splashes the clouds with gold
But my heart to summer turning.
(photo is a pond in Chagrin Falls, Ohio)
Day 80
Victoria Falls, Zambia. Massive floodplains & wetlands upstream of the Falls act like a sponge, slowing wet season flows and ensuring dry season flows for downstream hydropower. My new series on Nature-based Solutions for water & climate challenges in Africa starts today.
Read it here in Forbes - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffopperman/2022/12/19/waterways-to-resilience-a-series-on-nature-based-solutions-for-water-and-climate-challenges-in-africa/?sh=5611ce2c7a95
Day 79
Happy Hanukkah on the first day of the festival of lights.
Day 78
111 years ago this week, the National Association for Preventing the Pollution of Rivers & Waterways called for cities to treat sewage before dumping it in rivers. My daughter, Wren paddles on the Potomac; before cleanup it was called "too thick to drink but too thin to plow...”
Modern wastewater treatment for the DC region began in the 1950s and since then the Potomac has become a recreational and aesthetic resource. Although, like many older cities, combined sewers still lead to sewage flowing directly into rivers during heavy rainstorms. Investments and projects still underway to deal with that remaining challenge.
Day 77
Congratulations to France for making the World Cup final. Boats in the harbor of Le Conquet in Brittany - the westernmost town in all of France. Several streams converge in an estuary that runs through the town.
Day 76
Congratulations to Argentina for making the World Cup final. Aquí están las Cataratas del Iguazú - Iguazu Falls on the Argentine side, part of the largest waterfall system in the world.
Day 75
Update the CBD
Something's missing from 'land & seas'
Time to make the framework whole
Add freshwater to the goals
Our song calling for an ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in Montreal - one that must include targets for inland water ecosystems. Watch our song here: youtu.be/mXzvZhzJ-sQ
Day 74
Please picture me
In the trees
I hit my peak at seven feet
In the swing..
But I, I was high in the sky..
Are there still beautiful things?
Lyrics by Taylor Swift, whose birthday it is today. And the photo is a 7-year-old Wren swinging over Lake Erie. Read my essay in New York Times on Taylor Swift and nature
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opinion/taylor-swift-grammys-nature-lyrics.html
Day 73
The new globa framework for nature must elevate INLAND WATERS to same level as "land & sea." Right now inland waters is tenuously in brackets. Time to make a racket to drop those [brackets]. Read my blog post & listen to the playlist to rock for the rivers:
https://medium.com/@WWFWater/lets-make-a-racket-to-break-those-inland-water-brackets-596095edd84
Day 72
Today is International Mountain Day. Mountains matter for many reasons, including they are often the birthplace of rivers. Here a stream begins its journey by flowing out of a lake high in Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Day 71
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘯 was published this day in 1884. As for my family, 10 years ago, my wife, kids and I took a trip down the Mekong River & read 𝘏𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘯 as we went. So many parts of the story about travelling along the Mississippi reminded us of what we were seeing on the Mekong - from the fish markets to the wooden houses on stilts above the water.
Day 70
The Great Lakes Compact went into effect on this day in 2008. Here's Luca & a buddy boogie boarding on Lake Erie eight months later. The Great Lakes hold 6 quadrillion gallons - about 20% of all the freshwater in the world. The Compact is between 8 states that border the lakes.
The compact is the means by which the states implement their commitments under the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, which also includes Ontario & Quebec.
Day 69
December 8th is 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝗵𝗶 𝗗𝗮𝘆 as Buddhists celebrate when Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) attained enlightenment while sitting under the Bodhi tree (596 BC.) This photo is from a temple in Vientiane, Laos with the Mekong River behind Buddha.
Day 68
121 years ago this week, in his first address to Congress, President Teddy Roosevelt stressed the crucial value of water & forests, adding: "The water supply itself depends upon the forest."
Luca & Wren in Austin Creek, California - just two tiny kids on a huge forest log above a river
Day 67
Happy 75th Birthday Everglades National Park! President Truman at the Park's dedication: "...tranquil in its quiet beauty...To its natural abundance we owe the spectacular plant & animal life that distinguishes this place from all others in our country."
Day 66
O Jogo Bonito. For The Beautiful Game here's a photo of 3 beautiful things, which evoke today's game at the World Cup between Brazil & South Korea - Iguassu Falls, Brazil with an "88" butterfly with colors of the Korean flag: black, red, blue & (sorta) white.
Day 65
Today is 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆. Most people will think of land animals (e.g., lions) but remember that rivers also full of wildlife (like the Irrawaddy dolphin in the photo on the let) & they provide key habitats and water for countless land animals, e.g. elephants use rivers as migratory corridors.
Day 64
With the US men's football team playing the Netherlands today in the 2022 World Cup, here’s a canal in the Dutch city of Utrecht in February 2020. Utrecht is the closest city to the WWF-Netherlands office.
Day 63
Ile St. Louis in the River Seine in Paris, July 2022. Georges Seurat (who developed pointillism), was born in Paris on this day in 1859. His most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, shows people enjoying a park by the Seine.
Day 62
A Carolina wren, a songbird commonly found along streams.
"To you, I'll give the world
To you, I'll never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know it's right
And the songbirds are singing"
By Christine McVie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-krIa41I_NI
Day 61
Ruth Patrick, botanist & limnologist, was born 115 yrs ago this week. She was a pioneer in the use of biodiversity to assess the health of freshwater systems. A diatom specialist, she invented a diatometer to sample them. This photo is of Luca sampling something (probably not diatoms) in 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Patrick
Day 60
The 2022 World Cup is in a very dry place so here is a 2018 photo of the WWF Freshwater Practice gathering together for our global meeting....in a very dry place: Wadi Wurayah, one of only places with flowing water in the United Arab Emirates.
Day 59
While most people will first see the (blurry) rainbow trout, the focus of photo is on the wood: a critically important - but often overlooked - component of habitat in streams & rivers. And a somewhat odd thing to tell people you studied for your PhD. Streamwood!!
Day 58
Ohio and Michigan share the greatest rivalry in US college (American) football. They also share Lake Erie. Michigan might have beaten Ohio yesterday on the field but the Lake Erie shoreline score is: Ohio: 500 km, Michigan 52 km.
Day 57
A ribbon of a stream near Spider Rock within the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Navajo Nation. One of North America's longest contiguously inhabited landscapes, with crops still planted on floodplains as they were 1000s of years ago.
Day 56
US plays England today in the World Cup! Reminded me of my trips to London. So here's a photo of the River Thames on an unseasonably warm February day in 2019 (another "enjoy the weather, fear for the climate" kind of day). Go USMNT!!
Day 55
Giving thanks for reconnecting with family and friends. And rivers that are still connected. Happy Thanksgiving!
Day 54
Luca & his little helper after a big day walleye fishing in Quebec, 2015. Three reasons for the photo: 1. Luca is home for Thanksgiving 2. The First Thanksgiving relied on an abundance of food from lakes and rivers 3. Canada is in soccer World Cup for 1st time in 46 years!
Day 53
Cast net fishing on the Mekong river in Laos, 2013. Ahead of Thanksgiving, it's important to remember that the first thanksgiving meal in 1621 featured river foods, including ducks, geese, swans, oysters and eels. But that has long been overlooked. Like the fact that rivers support 1/3 of global food production. My blog in Forbes looks more closely at both these forgotten river/food connections - with river recipes inspired by 1621!
Day 52
On World Fisheries Day remember that freshwater fisheries provide food for 200 million & livelihoods for 60 million people. Luca with novice monks at a fishing camp at Khone Falls on the Mekong river near the Laos-Cambodia border.
Day 51
Inspired by the kick off of the soccer World Cup, here's a 2018 photo of kayak soccer (football) in Zurich's Schanzengraben Canal, which connects Lake Zurich with Limmat River. OK, it's "Kanu Polo," but that's close - see the keeper about to block a shot.
Day 50
Today is World Toilet Day. This is a riverside latrine in a rural village in western Sichuan, China back in 2005. China has made dramatic progress in providing access to improved sanitation. But the world is still way off track and major progress is still needed in much of world: globally, 3.6 billion still lack access to safely managed sanitation.
Day 49
Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills of Ohio, during spring break 2012. Hocking Hills State Park is the most popular state park in Ohio with 4 million annual visits. Primarily notable for how water has carved fabulous ravines, caves, and falls.
Day 48
Nature-based Solutions featured for climate adaptation at COP27. Floodplains are NBS with multiple benefits: flood-risk reduction, habitat (e.g., for Sandhill cranes), ecotourism (to see Sandhill cranes, below). Wren shows not everyone loves multi-benefit floodplains!
Day 47
Launching today at COP27, a report that I authored, Waterways to Resilience, on Nature-based Solutions in Africa, from WWF, AB InBev and African Development Bank. NBS (including mangroves shown here in the Tana River delta in Kenya) protect people & promote nature, e.g., fisheries
wwf.panda.org/discover/our_f
Day 46
It's Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Day at the Water4Climate pavilion at COP27. 11 years ago, Luca & I recorded a video for The Nature Conservancy on on how forest soils absorb water to reduce floods & increase water quality (next tweet). Has been seen 13,000 times, including by his 9th grade class, much to his Chagrin!
Day 45
Market at high tide in the Mekong river delta with everything elevated above water. Today is the 1st ever Water Day at Climate COP27. Water & climate is not just ensuring enough to drink & irrigate. Water flow in rivers is also critical to deliver sufficient sediment to deltas. Without that, deltas are sinking & shrinking.
Day 44
Yesterday was Neil Young's 77th bday, one of best singers at integrating nature in lyrics:
Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us
Helpless, helpless, helpless
Photo of my kids in North Ontario 2009
Day 43
Freshwater species populations have declined by 83% on average since 1970 - the largest fall of any species group. On Living on Earth, I talk about that trend & what we can do about it & WWF's Living Planet Report. (And the bird is a Little Blue Heron in Florida, by the way).
Watch it here: loe.org/shows/segments
Day 42
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. (the leaves are gone)
Day 41
On this day in 1975 the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior on way to steel mill at the inflow to Lake Erie. It was the largest ship to sink in the Great Lakes & inspired a song by Gordon Lightfoot.
See a similar freighter at left of my kids playing on a Lake Erie beach.
Day 40
Holding a juvenile chinook salmon reared in an enclosure on floodplain of Cosumnes (CA). Not quite Zeb Hogan with a Mekong giant catfish. But shows how reconnecting floodplains = bigger and more fish (helping to reverse nature loss and bend the biodiversity curve upwards), healthier wetlands & less risk for people. And that's how the photo at the top right links to three global conferences (see Day 39).
Day 39
I took this photo during my post-docat University of California, Davis. The photo links objectives of 3 COPs happening this fall: climate adaptation under COP27 + wetlands under Ramsar Convention COP14 + nature under Convention on Biological Diversity COP15. Wondering how? Answer tomorrow (above)
Day 38
75 years ago this week, Marjory Stoneman Douglas published "The Everglades: River of Grass." That same year the Everglades National Park was established. This is a scan of a 1998 photo that I took while slowly paddling away from huge gator encountered in a mangrove tunnel.
Day 37
Wrapping up parents weekend with Wren with a walk along the Charles. 75 deg F in Boston on November 6 as COP27 opens in Egypt. As I read somewhere on Twitter today - enjoy the weather, but worry for the climate.
Day 36
Critical Ramsar Convention on Wetlands COP14 is underway. Over last 20 years, WWF has helped countries protect wetlands totaling an area roughly twice the size of Spain! Here’s a Marsh Wren in a wetland along Roanoke River.
Day 35
Tana River Delta, Kenya, January 2011. Fishermen in dhows and thousands of egrets and ibis, all setting off at dawn. I got up at 5 am to watch the sunrise.
Day 34
More on Tonle Sap - a huge lake in Cambodia that fills each year from the Mekong river. This looks like a sunset photo of wetland vegetation? Well it is sort of..those are tree tops! Each wet season, the area of the lake increases by 3-5 times while is depth rises by between 2-8 m. I took this photo from a floating research station where I spent the night in 2013.
Day 33
Floating village on Tonle Sap Lake, connected to the Mekong River in Cambodia, featuring floating markets, floating temples, floating clinics, floating schools, and floating cell phone stores (in background)
Day 32
Fall at the Falls. Chagrin Falls on the Chagrin River (northeast Ohio). The town of Chagrin Falls was built based on water power, with 11 dams & multiple factories along the river (including my backyard). Now only 2 remain.
Day 31
Today is World Cities Day under the theme of "Better City, Better Life." I'll add this: Better River, Better City, Better Life.
The Cuyahoga River got cleaned up, making life in Cleveland much better. Here's Austin Walkin' Cane at the Burning River Fest
Day 30
Happy Halloween! A mayfly emerges from the Chagrin River. Here Wren clearly had been rummaging through the costume bin as she decided that ruby slippers and fairy wings were the right combo for a hike.
Day 29
African fish eagle. Globally, populations of freshwater wildlife have fallen by 83% on average since 1970. Reversing that will require transforming food & energy systems - but these transformation are necessary anyhow & will have great benefits for people. Read my blog on Forbes on this:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffopperman/2022/10/26/reversing-dramatic-decline-of-worlds-wildlife-will-require-transformations-that-benefit-people-too/?sh=1ea650691273
Day 28
Double-Decker Falls of the Chagrin River in the South Chagrin Reservation, near sunset. I've been visiting this spot since I was a little kid. Have a relaxing weekend.
Day 27
People told me it wouldn't be easy to post a water-themed photo with some relevant story, everyday. Wise people, it turns out. But it has been an absolutely beautiful fall, so here's a photo of a pond in Russel Uplands Preserve.
Day 26
Luca & I near Horseshoe Bend of Colorado River back in 2009. More than 300 river miles downstream is Hoover Dam. On this day in 1936, its hydropower turbines first generated electricity. At 2 GW, it was the biggest hydropower dam in world until 1948. Now its power generation is dropping due to drought.
Day 25
They grow up so fast. Seems like yesterday I found Wren floating on a raft. Today she called from college asking what I knew about the role of political parties as gatekeepers to extremist candidates.
Day 24
Happy World River Dolphin Day 2022! I took these photos of Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Mekong in 2013 on a trip down the river with my family. See my article in the New York Times about these extraordinary dolphins and that remarkable trip.
https://archive.nytimes.com/scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/a-vital-river-drained-of-wildlife/
Day 23
Beer is 95% water. So clean water is crucial for beer - but also for breweries who came back to rivers once they were cleaned up, like Collision Brewery on the Cuyahoga. All this and more in my oped on the intertwined history of Cleveland & water, told through beer labels
https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2022/10/a-cleveland-water-history-through-beer-labels-as-the-clean-water-act-turns-50-jeff-opperman.html
Day 22
Today is 71st birthday of The Nature Conservancy, where I got my start in freshwater conservation. Here are my 2015 TNC Freshwater team colleagues in Utah above the Colorado River at sunset.
Day 21
English "Writer-gardener" John Evelyn was born this day in 1661. To fight pollution he encouraged tree planting & large city parks. Today we call those Nature-based Solutions and they are key to flood risk & access to nature. Such as providing my son, Luca, with the chance to fish in this riverside park.
Day 20
Today is a rainy, chilly fall day and the Chagrin River is running high.
Day 19
My son Luca fishing in the Chagrin River (NE Ohio) when he was ten. He taught himself to fish bluegills at about five with a stick and a string and I've been playing catch-up ever since.
Day 18
50 years ago, the US Congress passed the historic Clean Water Act.
The Cuyahoga River helped inspire the Act thanks to the infamous time it caught fire - and has benefited from it enormously over the subsequent decades. In the photo, my daughter, Wren, kayaks on the Cuyahoga downstream of 1969 fire spot.
Day 17
A temple and bridge over the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.
Day 16
On World Food Day, let's remember that nearly 1/3 of all food in world comes from rivers: their water, nutrients, sediment or habitat. See WWF's fascinating microsite Rivers of Food.
The photo is one I took of boats full of produce in a floating village on Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia.
Day 15
WWF's Living Planet Report 2022 shows greatest decline in species populations is among those that depend on freshwater habitats, incl. fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Overall, there has been an 83% fall in freshwater species populations since 1970 - basically over my lifetime. You can download the report at: livingplanet.panda.org/en-US/
The photos is one I snapped of a Juvenile white ibisin Corkscrew swamp in Florida.
Day 14
Ribbon waterfall at Ash Cave in Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. Wren is the tiny figure at lower right of pool at base.
Day 13
BREAKING: Living Planet Report shows vertebrate population's have declined by 69% on average since 1970. Monitored freshwater populations have dropped by an average of 83%, largest decline of any species group. Here's a photo of mine of a Gharial in Nepal
Day 12
Freshwater ecosystems support an impressive proportion of all species on earth.
Did you know rivers, lakes and freshwater wetlands have MORE fish species than oceans? And oceans have 10,000x more water!. Here, my son, Luca looks at some of them.
Day 11
In a waterfall in the Chagrin River (northeast Ohio). My son, Luca, is now two inches taller than I am.
Day 10
Today is World Mental Healhty Day.
Research supports that time in nature improves mental health; "blue spaces" such as rivers & lakes are particularly effective. More parks in cities is key for equitable access.
Day 9
Sunset on the Siphandone or Four Thousand Islands region of the Mekong River, a 50 km stretch where the river branches into hundreds of channels, a magical place of islands and waterfalls.
Day 8
It's World Migratory Bird Day (October 8). Rivers, floodplains and wetlands are the crucial stopovers for migrating birds. Here's a photo I took of a Chinese pond heron along the Mekong River in Cambodia.
Day 7
Luca is back home from college for the weekend. The leaves are turning. I'm reminded of this photo from 15 years ago. Luca and Wren along the Chagrin River, October, 2007.
Day 6
Getting unstuck and underway. Men pushing a passenger boat off the bank of the Mekong River downstream of Huay Xai, Laos, December 2012.
Day 5
Elephants along the Zambezi River in Zambia. Wildlife needs water but also rivers. Rivers are essential migratory corridors for elephants in Africa's Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (aka KAZA), which is the world's largest transfrontier conservation area and home to half of the continent's remaining elephants.
Day 4
This project was prompted by my wife and I becoming empty nesters this year after our youngest child headed off to university. But on #WorldAnimalDay I'm reminded that we've still got canine kids at home. Here's Birch in the Chagrin River, making the point that animals love water!
Day 3
Today is #WorldHabitatDay. Rivers greatly enhance life for people in cities, offering recreation & connection with nature even in crowded urban areas. Over the past 50 years, for example, the French city of Lyon has revitalized its riverfront - demonstrating the value of (re)connecting people with their rivers.
Day 2
The Water Year's timing might appear idiosyncratic, but it actually makes total sense. Here in the western US, it starts when the rain starts to fall in Fall (or autumn for those of you reading this outside of North America), flows into winter when the snows come, runs off in spring and is used in summer - helping to plan how best to manage this essential but scarce resource.
But this diary project also celebrates another scarce resource: time with kids. Like fishing with my son in Dinkey Creek, California.
Day 1
Today is the start of my Water Year diary. I'll be posting photos and thoughts here (and on social media, including Twitter) every day for the next 12 months. These will dive into different themes and topics but all of them will hopefully help to inspire people to care that the future includes both abundant water supplies and healthy freshwater ecosystems.
Find out more about why I'm doing this in this short essay on our WWF Freshwater Medium channel.