By Miranda Bell-Tilcock and Sarah Yarnell
A big thank you to everyone who attended the International Symposium of River Science (ISRS) conference, hosted by the Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS)!
The International Symposium of River Science (ISRS) conference took place October 6th–9th and featured 4 days of speakers hailing from across the globe, many field trips, and an excellent evening of water-themed trivia. This conference had nearly 300 attendees from over 10 different countries across several different disciplines, speaking on a range of topics such as floodplains, rivers as classrooms, flow management, and more! By bringing so many people together from across job sectors and fields of river research, the conference fostered collaboration on both a national and international level.
The conference focused on 3 main themes, which the 3 plenary speakers addressed:
Reconnecting: Rivers as integrated biophysical systems; Restoring: River management for biodiversity outcomes; and Revitalising: Relationships between people and rivers
Plenary Speaker 1: Jono Tonkin, Associate Professor and Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Beyond stationarity: river futures in an era of extremes
Dr. Tonkin’s talk centered on the theme of Reconnecting: Rivers as Integrated Biophysical Systems. Under changing climate conditions, assumptions of stationarity – that conditions in the past will continue in the future – can result in poor predictions for managing rivers in the future. Building on his research, Jono highlighted the need to use process-based models to produce predictions that foreshadow ecosystem change long before trends are detected in empirical studies. These models can help with detecting change in ecological variation and rhythm, river flow management, and understanding the benefits of restoration actions, such as giving rivers the room they need to move.
Plenary Speaker 2: Felicia Marcus, Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program.
River Restoration and Protection: Is the Glass Half-Full or is it Half-Empty? Can we rise to the occasion?
Felicia’s talk centered on the theme of Restoring: River Management for Biodiversity Outcomes. Sound science is a crucial and foundational underpinning of good policy and management that is often underappreciated. While this underappreciation in the value of science for policy can stem from political judgments or non-aligned interests, it often can stem from a failure to communicate. Felicia discussed some of her experiences working with scientists in the policy world, sharing stories of how good communication and openness to listening led to breakthroughs in policy development. She provided tips for better communication with managers and encouraged scientists to reach beyond their technical skills to make an impact in an inherently political world.
Plenary Speaker 3: Brian Chaffin, Professor of water policy in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana and the Executive Director of a regional watershed nonprofit, the Clark Fork Coalition (CFC).
Social-ecological river restoration: converging currents of science, governance, and resilience thinking
Brian’s talk centered on the theme of Revitalizing: Relationships between People and Rivers. When people recognize rivers as coupled social-ecological systems, both scientists and practitioners are exposed to approaches that emphasize adaptive management, attention to feedbacks between people and ecosystems, and the capacity to work within—not outside of—human institutions and values. Brian spoke of his work in the Upper Clark Fork River of western Montana, where legacy impacts of copper mining have created highly contaminated waters that are slow to remediate and limit stream restoration efforts. Ongoing distrust between varying socioeconomic groups and the reshaping of water allocations in the local community further complicates restoration actions, stalling progress towards recovery. He emphasized the need to build trust, embrace and leverage complex social realities, and build creative pathways towards impactful restoration outcomes. By taking this human and community-centered approach, progress is being made towards long-term sustainability in the watershed.
These 3 plenary sessions led the way each day for a series of parallel sessions that covered a wide range of river and watershed topics. Among general topics, including disturbance and river dynamics, water quality, physical processes, and fish conservation and management, there were 12 special sessions highlighting advances and innovations across the diversity of river science.
Following an incredible session describing the removal of the Klamath Dams in 2024, with film clips from the upcoming documentary on Undaming the Klamath by Swiftwater Films (expected in 2026), there was a special session on the science of the Klamath Dam removals, with talks ranging from ecological effects and sediment flux to fish passage and habitat restoration.
One special session focused on advances in environmental flow management, with talks on the science underpinning environmental flow programs and case studies of adaptive management in environmental flow applications, and another session focused on nature-based solutions in stream restoration, with talks on process-based habitat restoration efforts, beaver mimicry in headwater streams, and effects from reintroduction of large wood. Together, these two sessions covered the benefits of restoring more natural flow regimes and more complex natural habitats in river systems, which was a topic of interest in a sponsored special session focused on methods for meeting environmental regulations in the Central Valley of California through combinations of flow and habitat restoration actions.
The field trips on Day 3 were a great way for attendees to see the restoration and management projects that were being presented at the conference in person. This portion of the conference was a huge success thanks to our sponsors and volunteers. Special kudos go to Kira Waldman and Sydney Stark for making this day go so smoothly. Attendees of the conference were able to sign up for 1 of 7 field trips throughout the Central Valley. Some of these field trips were half-day and extremely local, such as a tour of the UC Davis Arboretum waterways. Others lasted a full day at restoration sites like Dutch Slough or the Yuba River.
We’d like to congratulate student award winners Shayla Triantafillou for best oral presentation and Jennifer Natali for best poster – we had a great turnout and wish to thank you all for your contributions to river science.
Please keep an eye on our Riversociety.net website for updates on the next symposium in two years, and join the mailing list on that website to stay in the loop. Finally, we are seeking manuscript submissions for the Special Issue of River Research and Applications. The manuscript submission deadline is Sunday, 31 May 2026. Details can be found at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15351467/homepage/call-for-papers/si-2025-001379
Topics of interest for this call for papers include, but are not restricted to:
- Reconnecting: rivers as integrated biophysical systems;
- Restoring: river management for biodiversity outcomes;
- Revitalising: relationships between people and rivers.
The special Issue will include overview papers on each of the special sessions presented at the conference, providing a summary of advances and current research across a range of interdisciplinary topics in river and watershed science. If you have any questions about the Special Issue, please contact Martin Thoms (Martin.Thoms@une.edu.au).
About the Authors
Miranda Bell-Tilcock is the Deputy Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS). Prior to this position change, her research at CWS focused mainly on fish eye lenses and isotopes, such as Chinook Salmon eyes, to reconstruct their life history. Her work on fish eyes and isotopes was featured on National Public Radio’s Science Friday. Miranda enjoys hanging out with her three children when she’s not working, as well as baking bread and other tasty treats.
Sarah Yarnell is a Senior Research Hydrologist at the Center for Watershed Sciences. Her research focuses on integrating the traditional fields of hydrology, ecology, and geomorphology in the river environment with application to sustainable water management. When she’s not in the office or teaching, you can find her outside studying and recreating in rivers and mountains near and far.
About the ISRS Organizers
Dr. Sarah Yarnell, Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California Davis. Sarah Yarnell is a research hydrologist whose studies and teaching focus on integrating the myriad disciplines that are part of watershed science, river management, and stream restoration. Sarah first met her wild Australian river colleagues at a watershed science conference in 2002 and has been attending ISRS meetings with a growing community of international river researchers ever since. As the local host and a member of the organising committee. She was excited to bring this vibrant community of river scientists together with local partners and sponsors in Davis, California, where participants can enjoy the opportunity to connect with and learn from others, share studies and perspectives, meet new colleagues, and experience the diversity of local California river systems.
Associate Professor Melissa Parsons is an interdisciplinary river scientist with research interests in river resilience, river management, and disturbance ecology. Melissa has been attending ISRS meetings for over 20 years and retains a collection of treasured ISRS memorabilia, including the blow-up beach ball from the Florida meeting in 2009 and the insulated tote bag from the Albury meeting in 2004. She looked forward to sharing and learning the latest on river science, enjoying the hospitality of UC Davis and the conference sponsors, and catching up with colleagues old and new as the ISRS community met for the first time since Vienna 2019.
Professor Fiona Dyer is a freshwater scientist with research interests in environmental flows, urban water quality, and the management of freshwater systems. She has worked across a broad range of river types and has a particular fondness for floodplain wetlands. Fiona first attended an ISRS meeting in Albury in 2004 and retains an entertaining collection of photos from that conference dinner. Along with her fellow organizers, she was eager to enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with river colleagues and share stories of river science on the lovely UC Davis campus.
Martin Thoms is the Professor of River Science at the University of New England, Australia. As one of the founding members of the International Society for River Science (ISRS), he greatly enjoyed the 7th ISRS Symposium, not just through the excellent program of papers that was put together but also through interacting with colleagues who share a common river bond.
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