During the last full week of April, The University of Alabama’s Alabama Water Institute and the USGS Next Generation Water Observing System hosted the inaugural Water Observing Technology Forum.

Dr. Carla Atkinson, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Alabama, has received the 2024 Leadership Award from the Society for Freshwater Science. Atkinson has been a member of the SFS for more than 15 years and has become an integral leader in the study of freshwater mussels, one of the most threatened faunal groups in aquatic ecosystems.

On April 14, our CONSERVE team had the extraordinary opportunity to invite the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians from Louisiana to help thin native rivercane stands in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Thinning native cane stands is vital to the health and resiliency of the cane stand ecosystem. The effort was organized by CONSERVE director Michael Fedoroff, and together with the CONSERVE team and Jena Band, over 500 stalks of native rivercane were sustainably harvested from a patch near the Black Warrior River. This collaboration was not just about good ecosystem stewardship; it was also a convergence of cultures to preserve a timeless art and traditional relationship with the land.

Water leaders from across the country gathered in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for the American Water Resources Association’s spring conference. This is the second time that UA has hosted AWRA. The conference was held on the campus of The University of Alabama, home of the National Water Center and future home of the USGS Hydrological Instrumentation Facility.