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 of many important regulations, from managing endangered species to setting limits on pollution to protecting food safety, as it allows agency experts to set specific rules around a law’s general direction. Forty years later, that deference has been revoked, severely curtailing the powers of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
So… what now?
RBC Affiliate, Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Geography and the Director of the Small Satellite Research Lab Deepak Mishra has begun large-scale field studies with the CyanoTRACKER Project. Mishra is the P.I. of the project, which uses a combination of community reports, remote sensing data and imaging to identify harmful cyanobacteria in bodies of water.
RBC affiliate and Odum School of Ecology Foundation professor Amy Rosemond started the Emerge Program five years ago, with of increasing diversity in freshwater science. The program has since sent its students across the globe in the name of adventure, science, and inclusivity.
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.
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.
A new study authored by RBC affiliate Charles Van Rees was published in WIREs Water, discussing ways to maximize the benefits of levee setbacks, a form of natural infrastructure that allows for more effective conservation of riverine ecosystems.
RBC Affiliate Rhett Jackson collaborated with number of conservation organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and NOAA, to chart a path forward for the continuing restoration of Mannington Meadows, a heavily eroded New Jersey wetland that serves as critical habitat for many bird species, including bald eagles.
RBC Affiliate Benjamin Parrott, an Associate Professor at the Savannah River Ecology Lab, have gained new insight into the phenomenon of epigenetic drift, a “clock” within an animal’s DNA that determines its rate of aging. The study has the ability to significantly affect aging research.
John Spencer Grant recipient and National Geographic Explorer Anuja Mital works to understand how turtles move across the dynamic Brahmaputra River valley.
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.