Workshops

Workshop Time: 11.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Offsite location, specific details to be provided closer to the workshop date.

Hosted By: Christina Linkem (Stillwater Sciences), Vamery Gonzalez-Hernandez (North Carolina State University), Tatiana Latorre Beltran (Oregon State University), and Sophia Lopez (Oregon State University).

Workshop Description: This interactive workshop invites Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) members and local community participants to explore stream ecosystems together—embodying the 2026 conference theme, “Gathering to Build Resilient Watersheds and Communities.” By connecting scientists and residents through shared, hands-on learning, the event strengthens both ecological understanding and community relationships essential to watershed resilience.

SFS member participants will arrive first for a short debriefing and orientation to the workshop curriculum. During this session, organizers will review learning goals, safety protocols, and communication strategies to support effective, inclusive engagement with community participants. Afterward, SFS members will be divided into small groups, each paired with community participants to co-lead a hands-on macroinvertebrate workshop.

Together, these mixed teams will use kick nets, sorting trays, and microscopes to collect and identify aquatic macroinvertebrates—key indicators of stream health and ecosystem function. Through guided discussion, participants will connect what they see under the microscope to broader themes of water quality, habitat connectivity, and watershed management. There will also be an opportunity to deliver the workshop in Spanish, depending on the language preferences and backgrounds of the participants.

For scientists, the workshop offers a chance to practice accessible, engaging science communication and build meaningful local connections, with an opportunity to translate science into relatable concepts. For community members, it provides a welcoming, tangible introduction to freshwater ecology and the role of research in sustaining healthy watersheds, while gaining practical skills for community science initiatives and environmental monitoring. These skills would thereby strengthen their abilities for local advocacy and stewardship.

By creating space for mutual learning and dialogue, Exploring Streams Together advances SFS’s mission of linking science, education, and community action to build resilient watersheds and the communities that depend on them.

What to bring: Sun protection (sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, etc.) is recommended. If possible, it would be helpful if you could bring your own disinfected rubber boots or waders/wading boots.  Participants are also encouraged to bring along their own drinks, lunch and snacks for the day.

Cost: Carpooling via Uber will take place and cost splitting between participants will be required on the day.

Workshop Time: 8.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Zachary Nickerson & Stephanie Parker

Workshop Description:  The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) provides open data from a continental-scale network of monitoring locations, including 34 aquatic sites stationed in stream, river, and lake ecosystems. This hands-on coding workshop will teach participants how to access, interpret, manipulate and visualize NEON aquatic data within the R statistical software environment.

Instruction will include an overview of the breadth of NEON aquatic datasets available for data users before providing code-along instruction in R. The goal of the workshop is to foster a capable NEON data user community with a focus on linking observational data (including organismal and water quality data collected by teams of field ecologists) with instrument data collected from a network of high-frequency sensors. For example, participants may explore how macroinvertebrate communities respond to changes in the length of dry periods at NEON’s non-perennial streams, or how sediment and water chemistry dynamics respond to fires that have occurred within the watersheds of NEON sites. Linking stream discharge and other instrument data with aquatic macroinvertebrate community data and observational water quality data will be a highlight of the code-along.

Time will be reserved at the end of the workshop for attendees to discuss and ask questions regarding their own research projects or ideas using NEON data and explore additional NEON data products. Basic familiarity with R is required for participation in the workshop.

What to bring: Laptop & charger

Cost: Free to attend for registered attendees

Workshop Time: 8.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Amaryllis Adey & Joshua Benjamin

Workshop Description:  This half-day workshop provides opportunities for early career scientists and students to develop professional “soft skills” that may help them navigate their early careers. These skills are often termed the “hidden curriculum” and are not often presented in a structured setting, making obtaining these skills difficult.

Within SFS, the Headwaters Leadership Academy (HLA) program is one avenue to further develop these professional skills, and this workshop is meant to provide a taste of what the HLA offers. The two-year HLA program provides a cohort of early career scientists with a variety of networking, mentoring, service, and professional development opportunities through webinars and mentor meetings.

To provide a sample of HLA opportunities, this workshop focuses on soft skills including professional development (e.g., networking, selling yourself, conflict management) and mentor-mentee dynamics. The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with the opportunity to improve or develop professional development skills in a hands-on way while also providing information on further avenues with SFS (e.g., the HLA) to expand these skills. Additionally, participants will be invited to attend the HLA social later at the meeting. The target audience of the workshop is late-stage students and early career scientists who are interested in the HLA or gaining more professional development skills.

The workshop starts with an overview of the HLA program followed by a series of workshops that focus on soft skills. These workshops start with an overview of a skill/topic followed by an activity to practice. We anticipate covering science communication (identifying areas and opportunities to interact with the public), selling yourself (perfecting the elevator pitch), and preparing for future careers. We will finish with a question-and-answer session with current HLA members to give workshop participants the opportunity to ask questions about covered topics and the HLA program.

Cost: free to attend for registered attendees

Workshop Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Sarah Spaulding and the SFS Diatom Taxonomic Certification Committee

Workshop Description

Overview
Diatoms are foundational to freshwater bioassessment and provide high-resolution indicators of environmental change. Yet, accurate diatom identification remains a critical challenge across laboratories and monitoring programs. This full-day workshop introduces participants to diatom preparation, identification, and the taxonomic framework that underpins the SFS Diatom Taxonomic Certification Program.
Participants will work with expert taxonomists and digital resources from Diatoms of North America to build confidence in genus- and species-level identification, strengthen analytical consistency, and connect to the growing community of certified diatom analysts.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Become proficient in using Diatoms of North America for reliable identification and training.

• Learn distinguishing features of common freshwater diatom genera encountered in assessment programs.

• Practice light microscopy techniques with prepared slides from lakes and streams.

• Understand how to achieve taxonomic consistency and quality assurance across analysts and laboratories.

• Learn about the structure and requirements of SFS Diatom Certification at the Genus (Level 1) and Species (Level 2) levels.

Format
The workshop combines short instructional sessions, microscope-based exercises, and interactive demonstrations using the Diatoms.org platform. Participants will have guided opportunities to compare identifications, discuss taxonomic challenges, and explore methods to improve reproducibility in diatom data. The workshop is open to all experience levels—from early-career scientists and students to managers seeking to use diatoms as water quality indicators.

Outcomes
Participants will have the opportunity to sit for Level 1 (Genus) or Level 2 (Species) SFS Diatom Certification exams during the conference, develop a connection to the diatom taxonomic community through SFS, and contribute to expanding Diatoms.org as a shared educational and QA/QC resource.

What to bring: Personal diatom slides or material (optional). Participants are also encouraged to bring along their own drinks, lunch and snacks for the day.

Cost: USD $40, includes materials and online resource support.

Workshop Time: 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Offsite location, group will depart from We are meeting at Redband park, about a mile from the conference center. Maps location - https://maps.app.goo.gl/an8eemY2U1BidpCM8

Hosted By: Laurel Genzoli, Cora Steinbach & Desiree Tullos

Workshop Description:  River kayaking can help researchers access field sites and gather more comprehensive data, but limited experience with kayak navigation and safety often restricts many people's ability to use kayaks in their research.

In this half-day course, we will introduce researchers to river safety and navigation. Topics will include appropriate gear, site reconnaissance, hazard recognition, decision-making, whitewater navigation, and accident prevention. The course will include a shore-based session and a two-hour float in inflatable kayaks on a Class 1–2 section of the Spokane River. Students will need to bring cold-water immersion gear or rent it locally (wet or dry suits and booties; this will be required due to cold water temperatures).

Workshop hosts will coordinate with participants prior to the workshop to obtain rental kayaks, paddles, and personal flotation devices, depending on what equipment they are able to bring to the Spokane meeting.

While this course does not require prior kayaking experience, it is designed for river researchers who currently use kayaks—or who would like to implement kayaking into their fieldwork—and feel they need more guidance to do so safely.

The course will be taught by instructors who use kayaks extensively in their research, are swift-water rescue certified, and have guided kayaking and rafting professionally.

What to bring: Attendees will need to bring cold-water immersion gear or rent it locally (wet or dry suits and booties; this will be required due to cold water temperatures). Workshop hosts will coordinate with participants prior to the workshop to obtain rental kayaks, paddles, and personal flotation devices, depending on what equipment they are able to bring to the Spokane meeting.

Participants are also encouraged to bring along their own drinks, lunch and snacks for the day.

Cost: USD $30, in addition to this fee carpooling via Uber will also take place and cost splitting between participants will be required on the day.

Workshop Time: 12.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Dave B Arscott, Shannon Hicks & David Bressler

Workshop Description: The open source WikiWatershed toolkit, developed by Stroud Water Research Center and numerous collaborators, provides data sharing, watershed modeling, and do-it-yourself environmental monitoring technologies. This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to the coordinated use of these three technologies for monitoring the environment. Participants will 1) learn basic terminology and functionality of the Mayfly Data Logger, 2) learn how to program the Mayfly Data Logger to interrogate environmental sensors and record measurements, 3) telemeter those measurements to an online data visualization portal (Monitor My Watershed), and 4) best practices for sharing those data with appropriate metadata (including watershed characteristics derived from Model My Watershed). This workshop is for beginners with little experience with electronics and web-based resources, but who are eager to learn DIY techniques for conducting their research or incorporating it in their classrooms.

Learning Objectives

• Attendees will learn general terminology and functionality of programmable data loggers.

• Attendees will learn how to program a data logger to interrogate environmental sensors and record measurements.
  

• Attendees will learn how to share data from a data logger to the web through a WiFi connection.

• Attendees will learn how to summarize Earth surface characteristics at the watershed scale using geographic information systems.

Cost: USD $15

Workshop Time: 1.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Jake Hosen & Clark Jackson

Workshop Description:  Modern ecological research increasingly relies on computational methods, from data analysis and statistical modeling to simulation and spatial analysis. However, many ecologists lack formal training in software development practices that could significantly improve research and collaboration. This workshop introduces version control using Git, a fundamental tool for managing code, data, and collaborative research projects.

Version control systems track changes to files over time, allowing researchers to maintain a complete history of their work, add new features to models and other programs without losing previous versions, integrate open-source code from other projects, and collaborate effectively with colleagues.

This hands-on workshop covers practical version control skills tailored specifically for ecological research. Participants will learn to initialize Git repositories, track changes to scripts create meaningful commit messages, merge code with pull requests, and fork other repositories. We will explore branching strategies for creating new program features, resolving conflicts when collaborating. Users will become familiar with GitHub and other cloud repositories for sharing code and facilitating reproducible research.

The workshop emphasizes real-world ecological scenarios, including managing field data collection scripts, tracking changes to statistical models, collaborating on multi-institution projects, and preparing code for publication. Participants will be able to work through projects using R, Python, or their preferred programming language.

By the end of this workshop, participants will understand how version control prevents common problems like lost work and disorganized code, improves research reproducibility, and facilitates collaboration. Attendees will leave with practical skills they can immediately apply to their own research projects, along with resources for continued learning.
This workshop is appropriate for ecologists at any career stage who using programming as part of their work regardless of their current programming proficiency. No prior experience with version control is needed.

Cost: free to attend for registered attendees

Workshop Time: 1.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Workshop Location: Spokane Convention Center

Hosted By: Sandra Clinton, Tim Hoellein & Susan Colvin

Workshop Description: The SFS Science and Policy Committee (SPC) will host a workshop designed to bring together members interested in bridging research and policy in the freshwater sciences. As a scientific society we recognize the importance of our members being involved in policy at all levels so that the best available science is integrated into decision making.

The overall workshop goals are:

• to broaden members perspectives on how they can integrate with multiple institutions to advance freshwater policy at different scales

• discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in policy focused careers from local to federal agencies

• provide networking opportunities, especially for students and early-career scientists to learn more about how to integrate science and policy as they build their careers.

The workshop will be appropriate for society members at all career stages. We will divide the workshop into 3 main sessions.

First, we will convene a panel of professionals working in policy focused fields combined with opportunities for discussion.

Second, we will convene a second panel of professionals to discuss opportunities for scientists to work with organizations to help set policy.

Finally, we will end the session with a speed networking event so members meet with and talk to individuals working in/with policy.

What to bring: questions, enthusiasm, and note taking device of your choice.

Cost: free to attend for registered attendees