NPR JUMPS ON THE BANDWAGON
This Is A Good Thing
.. The NPR website just published an article about the diatom Didymosphenia geminata -DIDYMO, for short, (Rock Snot, for the rest of us.)
.. Now that the little slimy nuisance has made it to the Delaware River, the problem is less a 'Western Problem' and is making inroads into the popular press. This is a good thing... NPR even went to the trouble of building an interactive graphic of five of the most loathed invasive species. This too, is good. Now we just need to hear more about the continuing threats to our fisheries from the industry mavens, bloggers, and sports writers.
.. The insidious thing about invasive species is that they live mostly out of sight and do their damage away from the photographer's lens. Photographs of Rock Snot are not nearly as sexy as an old fart holding a fish and so they are not published.
.. Didymosphenia geminata has gone from an isolated western Canadian phenomenon to a North American scourge in just a couple of decades. It has mutated into several forms that bloom and recede or bloom and cover river bottoms from bank to bank. Currently it is creeping into Yellowstone along the Snake River near Jackson, Wyoming... This little critter has become a world traveler and is found from Mississippi to New Zealand and from California to Connecticut. Visit Protect Your Waters and the Invasive Species Weblog for information about these things.