Photo caption: A male river chub builds its spawning nest by carrying individual stones, a behavior that cues other fish like the saffron shiner, to spawn (West Prong, Little Pigeon River, Tennessee Basin). Photo credit: Freshwaters Illustrated. There are few places where the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings more true than in the conservation arena. Whether one’s mission is to protect, conserve and restore landscapes, special places, habitats, species, or all of the above, there is a persistent need for high quality, foolproof images in many aspects of our work. Most significantly, it is imperative that these images not only have an aesthetic appeal and convey the natural beauty of landscapes and living subjects, but effectively support our ability to raise awareness and a call to action that they are worthy of our time, attention and dollars to help preserve. In particular, for conservators of aquatic species, there is a need for “in situ” images of fish and other wildlife in their native habitats to open up a world of possibility in terms of creative messaging to our constituents and stakeholders and shed new light on the notion that you can’t save what you can’t see.

Since 2003, Jeremy Monroe and his team of world class photographers, cinematographers and editors have been capturing images and telling stories about the value of freshwater species in rivers and streams around the globe. With the founding of Freshwaters Illustrated or FI, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit membership organization, a vision was cast to create a public that is more conscious of freshwater life and more sympathetic to freshwater conservation causes. The awe-inspiring images capture the beauty and illustrate the life histories and behaviors of creatures that dwell beneath the water’s surface and are largely otherwise unencountered by the vast majority of people in their daily lives. For groups like the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP), Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA), National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) and others, the ability to reach out to broader, public audiences is critical and these images are imperative to educating people about the value of aquatic species and obtaining the buy-in and support of restoration efforts that will ensure long-term success.

Given the tremendous and unparalleled ecological diversity of aquatic species found in southeastern rivers and streams of the United States, FI has a special interest in the region.  In Spring 2011, FI’s work was focused in Southern Appalachia on the Tennessee River Basin.   Through FIs images, viewers are treated to rare glimpses of the lives of fish and other aquatic species in their native, watery habitats.  Their work conveys the diverse array of species that make these streams their home.  In the Ocoee, two male snubnose darters in spawning coloration display their ornate fins during a sparring match, while large buffalo fish congregate in a spawning tributary of the Little Tennessee River and a prehistoric looking snapping turtle swimming beneath the waters of Citico Creek, Tennessee Basin.  A photograph of a small musk turtle sitting on a streambed covered with the eggs of spring-spawning buffalo fish illustrates the predatory relationship that exists between the species and the fact that these eggs are eaten by a host of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.  Herds of caddisfly with their woody protective cases grace the surfaces of boulders in Clear Creek, and a colorful group of male and female striped shiners swims in the Little River.  A hellbender, North America’s largest salamander, cruises behind a bedrock ledge in a swift riffle on the Tellico River.

FI’s photographs and videos are potent tools for communicating the return on investment associated with restoration projects and studies in the Tennessee River Basin and throughout the southeast.  In Sycamore Creek, where species like the brook trout have been threatened by non-native species, FI’s images are helping to tell the positive stories about successful restoration efforts in the Cherokee National Forest, in the vulnerable southern edge of this species’ range.  On location in Citico Creek, FI photographed scientists from Conservation Fisheries, Inc. collecting eggs from the nest of the rare smoky madtom, a fish they have successfully reestablished in streams that they were previously extirpated from.

FI’s body of work throughout the southeast is noteworthy and growing.  Their images help to demonstrate the complex relationships that exist between species that inhabit the same aquatic territories.  This includes an amazing collection of photographs of species like stonerollers in the Little Pigeon River, brook trout in the Smoky Mountains, and lamprey, shiners, and male river chub in the Ocoee, colorful Coosa darters spawning in riffles of the Conasauga River, a tributary in the Coosa Watershed (one of America's most biologically diverse river systems in the Mobile Basin), as well as aquatic species in the Saint Francis River in the Missouri Ozarks, and Stony Creek in the New River Basin.  They plan to do more work in the southeast in the future and are in discussions with SARP and others to identify habitats and species that tell the conservation stories that need to be told and to identify funding to support these continued efforts. 

FI is preparing to launch its Nonprofit Aquatic Image Archive & Depository (NAIAD) in September, which will feature galleries dedicated to Southeastern biodiversity, and will enable users to browse galleries, purchase prints, and members to access educational downloads to visually enhance teaching and outreach.

To learn more about FI and see their captivating images, or to discuss the potential of FI documenting a project that your organization or agency is involved in, visit or contact Jeremy Monroe, Director, at Jeremy@freshwatersillustrated.org.  To view a trailer and educational preview of their award-winning RiverWebs documentary, click here.