I have to hand it to Dr. John Rex—the man knows how to pick a title and stick with it. Within the first few minutes of his colloquium presentation, Dr. Rex established the main definition and importance of “small streams and big dreams”, giving us the technical characteristics of small streams and explaining that they can be used as models for management in other systems as part of an applied research and monitoring approach. He relayed to us their ecological importance, as major influencers of downstream conditions and their roles as habitat refugia.

The riparian zones around these small streams and their contributions in terms of large woody supply (add “debris” to my list of slurs to avoid?) and temperature control were also highlighted and specifically addressed as part of his management plan—maintaining 50% of angular canopy density as a regulator for solar radiation and water temperature was one of the two main management policies that he focused on. Seeing as he found that a change in height and community makeup of canopy cover contributed to an increase in water temperature, one can say “quality over quantity” is a significant factor in maintaining long-term stream stability.

In a way, I think this talk was different from other colloquiums I’ve heard so far. Instead of focusing on one side of an environmental issue—post-pipeline restoration, habitat recovery after a wildfire—Dr. Rex acknowledged the realities of our current capitalist system and actively worked them into a method of management; a compromise in maintaining stream quality and still allowing for (inevitable) logging in the surrounding area. I’m sure this approach isn’t uncommon in real-world forestry management, but at this point in my academic career I am much more accustomed to an “all or nothing” approach to environmental activism.

Similarly, I appreciated his realism and cautiously-optimistic outlook, which he later addressed when asked the hilarious and relatable question, “What’s the basis for your optimism?” This is something we can all, as students in Natural Resources studies, ask ourselves: What is the basis of our optimism? Do we have any optimism in the first place when it comes to environmental concerns? That was a question I legitimately asked one of my undergraduate professors after her arduous and heartbreaking course covering global climate change—How did she keep from becoming hopelessly bitter about mankind and the consequences of our actions? She didn’t have a great answer for me at the time…

Here, however, even after there was no discernable improvement with the implementation of this first round of stream buffering, Dr. Rex refused to view it as anything less but a new opportunity for continued adaptive management. What a beacon for our field.

Dr. Rex also excelled in answering audience questions, maintaining the same dry humor he wielded casually throughout his presentation. He gave thoughtful and realistic responses to some pretty involved questions—notably, his view on applying local knowledge in management and the effectiveness of a 10m buffer on sensitive species.