Fear of taking risks may be among the biggest threats to imperiled species and ecosystems. “We’re prone to information paralysis—we’re never going to have complete data and to aim for that just stalls decision making.” My✍️for @MavensNotebook #cawater mavensnotebook.com/2025/09/29/n...

How Karuk ceremonial leader Ron Reed blended his knowledge of Indigenous and Western science to take down the Klamath dams, a 20-year struggle that finally freed the river a year ago this week. “It’s been a lifetime of work—it’s very emotional.” My✍️for @mavensnotebook.com

Microplastics are already everywhere—the air we breathe, the water we drink, and our own bodies—and we put more into the environment each year. What can we do to keep these tiny contaminants from harming wildlife and ourselves? My✍️for @MavensNotebook #cawater

Giving Indigenous people a voice in a wetland restoration paid off all around: tribes will be able to harvest culturally important plants & their input led to an engineering redesign that saved the project lots of money! My✍️for @MavensNotebook #cawater

Farming has caused extreme soil loss in CA's Delta, leaving its islands far below sea level and spewing carbon into the air. A new restoration will show if wetlands can reverse this subsidence and curb the region’s emissions. My ✍️ for @MavensNotebook #cawater

Government agencies have long shut tribes out but are now opening their minds to Indigenous knowledge on salmon restoration―for the good of fish, tribes & Western scientists. “I feel like my blind spots are so blind,” says one researcher, a sentiment echoed by many. My✍️for @MavensNotebook #cawater

Indigenous people have known for millennia―and Western science is beginning to recognize―that, done right, fire can boost streamflows. “The more you burn, the more water you’ll have.” My story for @MavensNotebook. #cawater

In a race against rising seas, the SF Bay Area is restoring tidal marsh to buffer the shoreline from storm surges. The North Bay’s diked hay fields are the only spot with room for marshes to move inland―and a new refuge expansion would give them that room. My story for Maven's Notebook. #cawater

I’m in the dictionary!! A sentence I wrote is one of the usage examples for “jet stream”: The storm track is a wind current, like the jet stream, that carries the river of moisture from west to east. — Robin Meadows, Scientific American, 11 Jan. 2023

My first story of 2024! How AI can help California push back against water users and justify letting streams flow more naturally for fish (hard to believe that it's not the other way around - why don't water users have to show they're not harming fish??).

River heat waves threaten salmon and other aquatic life. Can beaver dams and prescribed burn smoke help cool streams? “If wildfire smoke lessens heat waves in the water, we could save more water in reservoirs.” My story for Maven's Notebook.