Each year, lakes and rivers across the globe receive millions of visitors. They are home to a host of recreational activities that support and enhance our health and wellbeing—like boating, swimming, and hiking. Sadly, recreation can also negatively impact the waterbodies from which people receive so much enjoyment—from trampling plants to disrupting fish and other animals with noisy boat engines. To properly manage these recreational activities for sustaining both environmental health and human enjoyment, a new study lead by Dr. Markus Venohr and published in Ecological Reviews suggests we need to manage the social and environmental aspects of freshwater recreation in synergy...

This story was written for (and can be read in full at) Canadian Science Publishing (CSP).