· Conservation & Wildlife
Hellbenders, mudpuppies and other giants of North American streams
Meet the hellbender, North America's largest salamander, and its big relatives: how to tell them apart, how they live, and why they need clean water.
Water & Rivers
Streams, rivers, wetlands and groundwater – how to read them, enjoy them and keep them healthy.
· Water & Rivers
Algae blooms in rivers: green mats, toxic scums and golden algae
Why summer rivers grow green mats, how to tell plain algae from toxic cyanobacteria and golden algae, and what the signs mean for swimmers, dogs and anglers.
· Outdoor Recreation
Paddling small rivers: how to read a stream gauge before you go
Stage, flow, trend and lag time: a step-by-step way to read a stream gauge and tell whether a small river is too low, about right or too high to paddle today.
· Water & Rivers
Volunteer stream monitoring: a beginner's guide to your first season
How volunteer stream monitoring works, how to find a group, and a first sampling day step by step: chemistry, kick nets, bug sorting, safety and clean gear.
· Water & Rivers
Acid mine drainage, and why some mountain creeks run orange
Why creeks below old coal and metal mines run orange, how pyrite turns water acidic, what that does to stream life, and how treatment brings creeks back.
· Water & Rivers
How to read a water quality report for the stream down the road
A freshwater ecologist walks through a stream water quality report line by line: units, qualifiers, standards, and what each number can and can't tell you.