Insights
Reflections about conservation practices and wild places that inspire
Reverence for Water
When we hold our rivers and watersheds with reverence, our relationship changes from one of ownership and use to one of care, reciprocity, and responsibility. Across many cultures water has been understood as more than a resource. Water is a gift, a living presence, a relative, and a source of life. Restoring and protecting our watersheds may also ask us to restore our relationship with water and nature.
Resilient Watersheds
Conservation and land protection are essential to maintaining natural resilience. Protecting intact forests, wetlands, floodplains, riparian areas, tributaries, and groundwater recharge areas preserves the systems already storing and moving water across the landscape. Restoration is important where these systems have been degraded, but protecting healthy landscapes before those functions are lost is equally important. Strategic land conservation can also protect connections across a watershed, giving rivers room to move and natural systems the space they need to respond to changing conditions.