You'll Know It When You Don't See It Anymore

It is far too easy to take for granted the large aquatic ecosystems that make up our neighborhoods, playgrounds and professional landscapes.  We work and play in these places, and even if we are there to conserve and restore, we can feel that they will always be there, as they are.  When working in disturbed environments, we take comfort from the pristine riverscapes that we know lie just over the horizon, and since the horizon is vast, so must be the supply of untrammeled places.  Our complacency and lack of perspective means that we fail to document habitat loss - we didn’t see it go.  Our focus on the present clouds our recognition of invasives, range shifts and higher order ecological interactions - we didn’t see it coming.  Climate change means that the new normal isn’t yesterday – the past is no longer our best friend.  Yet, we are quite good at making big mistakes – the past should not be forgotten.  To be successful in learning from each other, we must set aside our need to reinvent tools and knowledge locally - watersheds are special, but not unique, the laws of physics and ecology are blind to catchment boundaries.