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Few resources are as vital as water. But as human activity continues to shape urban rivers, that refreshing dip in the stream, summer kayaking trip, or glass of ice water can be harder to achieve. This is why every year, on March 22, we observe World Water Day: a tradition started by
Something “clicked” for Mackenzi Hallmark while doing fieldwork in northwest Georgia. The current Odum School of Ecology graduate student and 2024 James E. Butler Fellow was measuring water quality in the Etowah and Conasauga rivers, part of her role as a research technician for the school’s River Basin Center (RBC). She became
On Friday, Oct. 18, the River Basin Center hosted its second annual water science and policy poster symposium, Confluence, at the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library. This year featured 29 posters from graduate students across disciplines, including the College of Engineering, Odum School of Ecology, Warnell School of Forestry & Natural
In 1984, the Supreme Court made a critical decision on the powers of federal agencies: where statutes set by legislation are clear, agencies must follow the direct statute, and where statutes are not fully clear, agencies are allowed the freedom of “reasonable interpretations." This deference to agency expertise is the legal foundation
This summer, researchers from the River Basin Center assisted the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) in rescuing one of the last populations of the Laurel Dace, an endangered minnow species, from a drying stream in Tennessee. The rescue, conducted in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, has since attracted media
Laurel Dace

RBC Affiliates Team up to Rescue Species From Extinction

This summer, researchers from the River Basin Center assisted the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) in rescuing one of the last populations of the Laurel Dace, an endangered minnow species, from a drying stream in Tennessee. The rescue, conducted in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, has since attracted media attention from multiple Chattanooga news outlets as well as Pattrn, an affiliate of The Weather Channel that covers climate change and conservation.

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Butler Fellow Mackenzi Hallmark (left), and Spencer Fellows Valeria Aspinall (center) and Justin Jimawo (right) standing in front of the UGA turtle pond.

RBC Welcomes New Spencer and Butler Fellows

The River Basin Center has named Justin Jimawo and Valeria Aspinall this year’s Spencer Fellows, and Mackenzi Hallmark this year’s Butler Fellow. The John Spencer Fellowship was created by family and friends to honor the legacy of the late John Spencer, a graduate student at the Odum School of Ecology.  The Butler Fellowship was established by James E. Butler, Jr., a Columbus attorney who gifted $1 million to what was then the Institute of Ecology in 2006.

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Anuja Mital looking through binoculars on a bluff above a river in India.

The Ever-Shifting River

John Spencer Grant recipient and National Geographic Explorer Anuja Mital works to understand how turtles move across the dynamic Brahmaputra River valley.

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A map of the I-95 corridor through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Managing the ebb & flow of the I-85 corridor

Multiple RBC affiliates, along with Director Seth Wenger and Associate Director Krista Capps, recently published a paper on the effects of urbanization along I-85, as well as suggestions for the continued water management of one of the United States’ most vital interstate arteries.

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A great blue heron flies above a river.

Study: People are altering decomposition rates in waterways

A new study co-authored by RBC Associate Director Krista Capps and Affiliate J.P. Schmidt gathered data from 550 rivers across 40 countries and found that human intervention increases the rate of decomposition of plant matter, depriving freshwater life of food at a faster rate than usual, as well as potentially exacerbating climate change.

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