If you build it, they will come

(and by "it" I mean wetlands and floodplains and by "they" I mean multiple benefits for people)

Field of Dreams...

One Battle

Dorado catfish travel thousands of kms through the Amazon Basin each year, undertaking the longest freshwater migration of any fish on Earth.

But human-caused disruptions risk ending that journey.

At #CMSCOP15, nations have the chance to change that: https://ow.ly/vbic50YzzqT

Swimways (FINAL) YouTube video by Jeff Opperman

Migratory freshwater fish are among most imperiled wildlife on Earth; at COP15 of Convention on Migratory Species, now in Brazil, solutions are needed!

Here's a theme song & music video

youtu.be/471W4MqZ5M0
@cms.int @worldwildlife.org @oldenfish.bsky.social @solomonrdavid.bsky.social

For most sewer districts, if you asked about their influencer, they'd hear "influent sewer" and imagine water draining into their system during a rain.

@neorsd.org has both of the homophones

Global Assessment of Migratory Freshwater Fishes This report provides the most comprehensive global assessment to date of migratory freshwater fishes.

A new global assessment published by @worldwildlife.org finds 325 migratory freshwater fish species that are eligible for international conservation action but not yet listed. @cms.int @wwf-water.bsky.social

www.worldwildlife.org/publications...

Steven Kwan spends his days watching nature shows

Join the #CMSCOP15 launch of the Global Assessment on Migratory Freshwater Fishes, the most comprehensive overview yet of migratory freshwater fish.

Vital freshwater fish migrations are collapsing and hundreds of species need urgent action.

View the live stream: www.youtube.com/@BonnConvent...

Many of the world’s great wildlife migrations take place underwater & they are in serious trouble. New research released @ CMS COP15 reveals that migratory freshwater fish are among the most imperiled wildlife on Earth
www.cms.int/news/un-vita... @cms.int @wwf-water.bsky.social @worldwildlife.org

it's March 24.

Epic river migrations of fish rapidly collapsing, UN report finds Vast journeys, among world’s great wonders, found to be under threat as freshwater fish populations crash by 81%

Epic river migrations of fish rapidly collapsing, UN report finds

Today is International Puppy Day!

And yesterday was #WorldWaterDay.

#WaterYear celebrates puppies enjoying clean water.

This photo was taken 15 years ago; Birch just celebrated her 15th birthday in February!!

#WaterYear

In Comfort of Crows @margaretrenkl.bsky.social describes a vernal pool:

“from the nearby path it looks as though someone has buried a large mirror in the sleeping woods…”

(Carolina Beach State Park in NC)

marshy wetland. shallow water with felled trees across the surface left to right. bright green vegetation in the background. location is Medina Marsh, a preservation project.

college basketball tournament is trademarked but Marsh Madness is not.

#WaterYear loves this time of year, with everyone talking about Marsh Madness (thanks to @neorsd.org for the pun).

One big difference is that with Marsh Madness, you really should avoid filling in pools

(A marshy pool in the Great Plains of Montana)

a printed “2026 Bracket Bracket” sheet of 32 “teams,” just brackets grouped by Shape, Material, Application, and Mounting Method.

consulted with our maintenance team and picked U-Shaped to win it all this year in my Bracket Bracket™️

fingers crossed.

When I started working on UK energy in 2007, fossil fuels provided ~78% of electricity. Coal alone: 34%. Wind & solar: less than 2%.

Today: wind & solar 33%, fossil fuels 28%, coal 0%.

The chart below tells the story better than words can.

#WaterYear

Sun and ice and water

overlooking a series of circular water filled tanks of a sewage treatment plant at night. lights line a long brick building on the horizon as a blue-black sky is stark behind a veil of thin puffy clouds in the distance.

good night, sewers.
good night, streams.
good night, operations and maintenance teams.
good night, settling tanks.
good night, stream banks.
good night, engineers, scientists, crews, managers, inspectors, analysts too.
a good night for us means serving with care.

good night, sewers, everywhere.

Great blog post from Ted Sommer on a quarter century of science and dedication to turn good ideas into reality, increasing access for native fish to the super-productive habitats on floodplains.

@ucdaviswater.bsky.social

californiawaterblog.com/2026/02/15/a...

#WaterYear

Today is #WorldWildlifeDay - a good time to celebrate that wildlife also includes swimmers, e.g., Irrawaddy Dolphin, from Mekong (Laos) in 2013 (dolphins now gone from Laos).

Rivers are also essential for wildlife that walks, for habitat & corridors (elephants along Zambezi)
#WWD2026

The US Had a Big Battery Boom Last Year Despite Donald Trump’s unrelenting attacks on renewable energy, there’s a quiet revolution happening on US grids.

Big Battery Energy? Yes, America boomed in 2025. 🔋 Batteries are one of the 6 technologies outlined by Sr. Scientist Amanda Smith, PhD. that will make up the cleaner electric grid of the future.
Read more in Wired: https://bit.ly/4tTTk8Z
Read more from Amanda Smith, PhD.: https://bit.ly/4tOZI10

#WaterYear
On this day in 1968, Ohio became perhaps world’s first gov't to legislate system of protected rivers: Ohio Wild and Scenic Rivers Act preceded U.S. Wild & Scenic by 10 months. Little Miami River was first

Grand River was the second protected river

Luca kayaks on the Grand, summer 2022.

‪Tell me the truth...I'm ready.

New IPBES report finds that $220 billion were directed to conservation & restoration of biodiversity in 2023...

yet $7.3 trillion flowed toward subsidies that directly harm nature.

IPBES Business & Biodiversity Assessment www.ipbes.net/business-imp...
@ipbes.net

New report from IPBES finds that $220 billion were directed to conservation and restoration of biodiversity in 2023...

yet $7.3 trillion flowed toward subsidies that directly harm nature.

We need a better world.

IPBES Business & Biodiversity Assessment; www.ipbes.net/business-imp...
@ipbes.net

Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.

Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.

#WaterYear

Reflecting on warmer months ahead

#WaterYear

A few days ago was National Random Acts of Kindness Day...

#WaterYear

There are some gulls on the Cuyahoga River

#WaterYear

A major thaw after a month of cold…ice breaking up on the Chagrin River