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.

Explore the Lower Olentangy close up

The next breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network (EPN), set for July 10, will take you on a walking tour of the Lower Olentangy River in Columbus. You’ll learn about wildlife, forestry, invasive species, water quality and the benefits of lowhead dam removal. You’ll visit CFAES’s Wilma H. Shiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, check out invasive-species removal and elm research projects in Tuttle Park, learn about the 5th Avenue dam removal and river restoration process, and get a close-up look at a field collection of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Registration is open to both EPN members and the public. Find out more.

CFAES’s Mažeika Sullivan, director of the Shiermeier wetland park and one of the walk’s guides, talks about the facility in the video above.

CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources is the organizer of EPN, which is a statewide professional group. Joining is free and open to anyone studying or working in an environmental field.

Just watch where you put your hands

Does whatever a spider canColumbus’s “Main Street bridge is crawling with spiders” — especially, it seems, its handrails. And in terms of the growing health of a restored section of the Scioto River, that’s good. CFAES’s Dave Shetlar is quoted. Mark Somerson of the Columbus Dispatch has the story. (Photo: Nathan Lovegrove, iStock.)

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.)

Take me to the river … to see it restored and eat breakfast

Broad_Street_Bridge_Columbus_OhioThe restored Scioto River in downtown Columbus will take center stage — and serve as the backdrop — for June’s Environmental Professionals Network breakfast program. (Photo: Broad Street Bridge, Columbus, Ohio, by Barry haynes licensed under CC BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.)