Julian Olden
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oldenfish.bsky.social
Julian Olden
@oldenfish.bsky.social
Professor @ UW | ecologist | freshwater | consumer of flat whites & craft 🍺 | gentle 🐟 squeezer | πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ | EiC Water Biology and Biosecurity | AE @ESA Frontiers and Eco Apps | www.oldenfish.com | Views are my own ✊
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National assessment of river protection in the U.S.

Article: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Policy Brief: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Rivers Explorer: map.myriver.americanrivers.org

Collaboration b/t American Rivers, Conservation Science Partners, Univ WA @americanrivers.bsky.social

Thread πŸ‘‡ | DM for PDF
Reposted by Julian Olden
Welcome the editors for FieldNotes 2026! pt. 1

We're so excited to introduce the editors of our editorial team! Stay tuned for the remaining editors and other updates!
January 16, 2026 at 8:35 PM
β€ͺAnother wonderful CESAB FOOD-WEBS working group meeting in Montpellier! Super productive and creative time together. Funding: @frbiodiv.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Julian Olden
River need greater protection, but to date our methods for tracking protection status have been limited. In this post I describe a new method from @oldenfish.bsky.social @americanrivers.bsky.social and Conservation Science Partners - the Protected River Index

www.forbes.com/sites/jeffop...
Improving How We Track Progress For River Protection
Rivers have relatively less protection than do land or oceans and we lack effective mechanisms for measuring protection. A new study offers an improved mechanism for tracking progress.
www.forbes.com
January 22, 2026 at 8:32 PM
So glad that you investigated this issue! PISS is crappy, and it needs to be called out.
January 13, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Julian Olden
πŸ—£οΈ MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Over 80% of our nation’s 4.4M miles of rivers aren’t adequately protected!

Our brand new peer-reviewed research with Conservation Science Partners published in Nature Sustainability shows just how vulnerable our rivers are.

➑️ Learn more: www.americanrivers.org/npra-explore...
January 10, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Expanding river-specific protections, such as new federal and state Wild and Scenic Rivers and Outstanding Resource Waters, would ensure effective, durable protection measures tailored to rivers.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Individual states can promote river protection through new or strengthened riparian buffer legislation, administrative rules, or agricultural/forestry best practices. Protecting rivers flowing through private lands, such as those offered by easements or land trust acquisitions/agreements, is key.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Federal public lands have an outsized role in protecting rivers nationwide, and multiple-use lands provide a major opportunity to scale protections; weakening or eliminating existing environmental policy mechanisms would undermine these safeguards.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Protection often does not coincide with other conservation objectives, where only a small fraction of watersheds with high biodiversity, habitat intactness and importance to drinking water supply are adequately protected.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Protection is overwhelmingly driven by land-based mechanisms, which are often spatially misaligned with hotspots of freshwater biodiversity and may inadequately safeguard rivers from upstream threats. Protection is also uneven across river types (intermittent rivers less protected) and geographies.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
America’s rivers are alarmingly under protected. Just over one-tenth (12%) of rivers in the contiguous United States and less than one-fifth (19%) nationwide are currently protected at a level deemed viable, while two-thirds remain entirely unprotected under the mechanisms assessed in this study.
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
National assessment of river protection in the U.S.

Article: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Policy Brief: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Rivers Explorer: map.myriver.americanrivers.org

Collaboration b/t American Rivers, Conservation Science Partners, Univ WA @americanrivers.bsky.social

Thread πŸ‘‡ | DM for PDF
January 9, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Julian Olden
hot off the press! Led by the mighty Marie Perga, including many members of the FooΞ΄-webs team, and kindly funded by the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity/CESAB

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A global estimator of C and N isotope baselines for fresh waters
Baselines are the pebbles in the shoes of isotope ecologists. The extreme variability of the isotope composition of resources at the base of food webs governs the spatial differences of consumers'...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Unraveling multipredator impacts in salmon-bearing rivers using quantitative DNA metabarcoding. A wonderful collaboration with @jwinkfish.bsky.social.

@uwsafs.bsky.social @uwenvironment.bsky.social @uwfreshwater.bsky.social

πŸ‘‡
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
December 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A huge congrats Tim!
December 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I enjoyed your talk Miguel. It was early for me (6:30 am), but it was well worth it!
November 28, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Nah ... I end up buying caps on eBay. I mostly use uncrimped caps (i.e., before they are used).
November 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Late night, but there is no better feeling that having stable isotope samples all prepped! βš›οΈπŸŽ‰
November 24, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Finally found some time to reconnect with my caps. Red swamp crayfish in all its glory. Adding it to my office wall! @newbelgium.bsky.social @pikebrewing.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Sunrise from UW SAFS @uwsafs.bsky.social. Not a bad way to start the day! β˜€οΈ
November 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Thanks Corey!
November 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Is Facebook fueling the online trade in aquatic invasive species?

Survey of hobbyists indicates that over half engage in peer-to-peer organism exchange, transport across state lines & release them into the wild.

AI Podcast: open.substack.com/pub/oldenfis....

Paper: www.reabic.net/journals/mbi...
www.reabic.net
November 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The current website of the US Department of Agriculture. What a nightmare.
October 6, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I've been proud to serve as the faculty leader for this effort. It has been a pleasure to interact with passionate students and emerging science communicators for many years now! We publish annually. I encourage you to check out past issues and follow! @uwsafs.bsky.social @trevorabranch.bsky.social
FieldNotes (fieldnotesjournal.org) is a student-run undergraduate journal and digital storytelling platform at @uwenvironment.bsky.social. We have focused on highlighting undergraduate research and publishing through-provoking articles about gnarly environmental issues since 2018. Please follow.
FIELDNOTES
fieldnotesjournal.org
September 28, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Interesting! I'm on my reading list for the week.
September 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM