Restoring a river, restoring hope

Jason Atkinson, producer of 2014’s A River Between Us, about the conflict and coming together of the Klamath River restoration project in Oregon and Washington, the largest river restoration project in American history, appears in person at a screening of the film from 7–8:50 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the Ohio State Columbus campus. A discussion follows the screening, which is being presented as part of Ohio State’s fifth Environmental Film Series. Admission is free and open to the public, with free pizza and beverages at 6:30 p.m. Learn more.

Webinar looks at managing watersheds, has expert speakers from CFAES

CFAES’s Anne Baird and Joe Bonnell will present “Professional Development Needs of Water Resource Managers: Core Competencies” during a free webinar called “Developing Capacity for Local Watershed Management” from 2-3 p.m. CT (3-4 p.m. ET) May 18. The event is part of an ongoing series sponsored by the 12-state North Central Region Water Network. Learn more and register here. Baird and Bonnell are with the School of Environment and Natural Resources and OSU Extension’s Ohio Watershed Network.

Ohio shale’s biggest environmental impact may be on forests

Growing forests 2Shale drilling’s biggest effect on Ohio’s environment might not come from the wells themselves but from the many new pipelines they need. So says CFAES watershed expert Joe Bonnell, who will speak twice on his research exploring the Ohio shale industry’s environmental impacts at Farm Science Review. The Review, which CFAES sponsors, is Sept. 22-24.

Water with breakfast

Program is all about waterLisa Downes, J.D., freshwater stewardship director for The Nature Conservancy and North America director of the Alliance for Watershed Stewardship, headlines the March 10 breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network. The program also will have speakers on Blueprint Columbus and Ohio State’s Global Water Initiative. Learn more here. Register here.

‘Cleaning Up America’s Rivers’ to be live-streamed

Cleaning Up Rivers to be live streamedChad Pregracke’s Feb. 24 talk to the Environmental Professionals Network in Columbus, “Cleaning Up America’s Rivers,” will be live-streamed on YouTube starting at 8:45 a.m. EST. Tune in at youtu.be/IV8XTNGIngM.

Pregracke is founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, a not-for-profit group that works to take trash out of major U.S. rivers. In 2013, he was named CNN’s Hero of the Year for his efforts.

As always, both members and nonmembers of the network are welcome to attend the program in person. The registration fee includes breakfast. Get details here.

Toward bluer big rivers

picture of blue river at sunriseCNN’s 2013 Hero of the Year, who works to clean up America’s major rivers one piece of trash at a time, will speak Feb. 24 at Ohio State. Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters, will headline February’s Breakfast Club program by the Environmental Professionals Network. Registration is free for the first 280 Ohio State students to sign up. (Photo: Missouri River, iStock.)