I’m working on a briefing sheet about a stream restoration project. Why am I getting paid to do this when the Forest Service already has briefing sheets on these projects?

Well, the briefing sheet on this particular watershed describes it thus:

Watershed condition indicators reflect concern for long term health and function of Aquatic Habitat and Riparian Vegetation. A high percentage of riparian area associated with alluvial wood-dependent channels has been harvested or roaded. Two condition indicators addressing In-stream Large Wood and Channel Shape/Function rate in the Class 3 range. Riparian Vegetation indicator also rates Class 3, due to historic riparian harvest level of 30%. The watershed hydrologic and fish habitat integrity is at risk due to high percentage (77%) of roads proximal to streams, which resulted in a Class 3 rating for this indicator.

Have you got all that?

After reading this and a few other source documents, I got down to business and wrote a few different chunks of text, including a timeline for work in the watershed, and sent it around to get feedback.

Let’s look at an example from the timeline.

I wrote:

Landslides change the course of Fubar Creek and cut off spawning grounds

After comments from a nonprofit partner, I changed it to:

Landslides from clearcut slopes change the course of Fubar Creek and cut off spawning grounds

And I’ve just received the suggestion from a Forest Service scientist to change it to

Numerous landslides aggraded Fubar Creek and the high volume of gravel sediments caused the stream to find an alternate route beneath the Hydaburg highway, essentially cutting off traditional fish spawning habitat.

Many scientists are able to communicate clearly with the general public, but there are enough who haven’t got the time or inclination to develop the skills to explain their work to people outside their own field. And then you need to hire people like me to translate from Science to General Public.

Also, bonus points if you can use “aggrade” in a sentence, besides the one above.