Unless otherwise noted, all images and content at this site are
© by Earth Ministry. No unauthorized use is permitted without
written consent.
Helping Individuals and Congregations
Connect Christian Faith with Care for the Earth
Connect Christian Faith with Care for the Earth
Helping Individuals and Congregations
Connect Christian Faith with Care for the Earth
Connect Christian Faith with Care for the Earth
Watershed Services
1) How The Pattern Works
Virtually all watersheds have been modified or degraded by development, often resulting in the deterioration of water quality, damage to plant and animal communities, erosion, and other wounds. This reduction in the quality of ecosystem services may have significant economic and social implications as well.A watershed may be defined as the collection land surfaces draining to the same body of water. Smaller watersheds combine to form larger watersheds. The Columbia River watershed is composed of thousands of small stream-scale watersheds, ultimately draining parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, and British Columbia.
Watersheds are functional units of ecosystems, and best treated as whole systems. They provide a wide range of Watershed Services, including air and water purification, flood control, habitat, and recreation. Degraded watersheds may show numerous symptoms, including erosion, loss of plant and animal species, decreased ability to hold water during storms (leading to more frequent and sever flooding), and habitat fragmentation.
Watershed restoration is the process of restoring fully functional ecosystems at the watershed scale. This requires that the full complement of native plants and animals be reintroduced, perhaps over several decades. It is particularly important that large carnivores and "keystone" species, which each play a role in regulating food webs far out proportion to their numbers, be restored. Revegetation, particularly in riparian zones, can renew soil fertility and reduce erosion. Natural disturbances, including floods and fire may need to be re-established or effectively mimicked. Obstacles to species movement need to be addressed, thereby reconnecting isolated habitats.
Watershed restoration brings particularly significant economic benefits in an urban setting, where it enhances Ecosystem Services and directly impacts thousands of people. In , major economic uses of the land, including forestry, agriculture, and fisheries can directly contribute to watershed restoration as they shift towards sustainable forestry, agriculture, and fisheries. Restoration in a wildlands setting can establish and enhance Wildlife Corridors, improve the health of Buffer Zones, and play a role in establishing Core Reserves in disturbed areas. On a small scale, yards, gardens, landscaped grounds, and parks can all be planted with native species.
In the Pacific Northwest, restoration of Watershed Services is a major economic sector, with hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to salmon, wetlands, forest, and grasslands restoration. It remains an imprecise science, but holds enormous promise to eventually return the Natural Capital of the bioregion to ancient levels.
Treat watersheds as whole systems, seeking to restore a full complement of native plants and animals, re-establish natural disturbances, stabilize soil, and connect habitat with surrounding watersheds.
2) Stories: Examples of this Pattern in Everyday Life
Reading the Columbia River for the Signs of the Times
No one can deny that there is fighting over the Columbia River's gifts. Farmers need the water and environmentalists want to protect salmon. There are tribal issues and nuclear problems. People want economic development while others want a healthy ecosystem. Not all these things have to be against each other, but so many issues exist that it becomes harder to take a path that supports life.
An important path leading to a healthier river comes from Catholic Bishops in the Columbia River watershed. They spent four years writing a pastoral letter that laid out a life-giving relationship to the river and its tributaries.
The final letter, entitled The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good, brought together diverse voices surrounding the river from both Canada and the United States, an aspect unique to this letter. The steering committee simply listened for the first two years keeping an open mind about the needs of the people and creation. After that they wrote a draft, revised it and allowed input from users, experts and interested parties. Finally, the bishops revised and signed the final version.
Dr. Loretta Jancoski says about the letter, "It is almost like doing an examination of conscience. Gifts have been bestowed to us. How have we used [the Columbia River]?"
The letter does not place blame but works to create community. It says "We invite people to explore with us the implications of the Christian idea of human stewardship of creation, and to effect a spiritual, social and ecological transformation of the watershed."
Jancoski goes on to say, "As we care for creation, it always cares for us." This has resonated strongly with young adults. She continues, "A response I hear often from young adults is that 'at last the church is doing something relevant.'"
After the writing of the letter, the steering committee worked with the Intercommunity Center for Peace and Justice to create a study guide and with the Washington Catholic Conference to produce a video that would introduce people to the major themes of the pastoral letter. These materials have been used in churches and schools across the Northwest connecting people's faith with this gift of creation.
The letter ends with a prayer, "Our prayer for the successful fulfillment of the vision for the Columbia River Watershed is simply: Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the minds and hearts of the people of the region so that, being renewed, they may cooperate with your Spirit and together renew the face of the earth." This is something for us all.
For more on the Columbia River Pastoral Letter Project visit www.columbiariver.org.
No one can deny that there is fighting over the Columbia River's gifts. Farmers need the water and environmentalists want to protect salmon. There are tribal issues and nuclear problems. People want economic development while others want a healthy ecosystem. Not all these things have to be against each other, but so many issues exist that it becomes harder to take a path that supports life.
An important path leading to a healthier river comes from Catholic Bishops in the Columbia River watershed. They spent four years writing a pastoral letter that laid out a life-giving relationship to the river and its tributaries.
The final letter, entitled The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good, brought together diverse voices surrounding the river from both Canada and the United States, an aspect unique to this letter. The steering committee simply listened for the first two years keeping an open mind about the needs of the people and creation. After that they wrote a draft, revised it and allowed input from users, experts and interested parties. Finally, the bishops revised and signed the final version.
Dr. Loretta Jancoski says about the letter, "It is almost like doing an examination of conscience. Gifts have been bestowed to us. How have we used [the Columbia River]?"
The letter does not place blame but works to create community. It says "We invite people to explore with us the implications of the Christian idea of human stewardship of creation, and to effect a spiritual, social and ecological transformation of the watershed."
Jancoski goes on to say, "As we care for creation, it always cares for us." This has resonated strongly with young adults. She continues, "A response I hear often from young adults is that 'at last the church is doing something relevant.'"
After the writing of the letter, the steering committee worked with the Intercommunity Center for Peace and Justice to create a study guide and with the Washington Catholic Conference to produce a video that would introduce people to the major themes of the pastoral letter. These materials have been used in churches and schools across the Northwest connecting people's faith with this gift of creation.
The letter ends with a prayer, "Our prayer for the successful fulfillment of the vision for the Columbia River Watershed is simply: Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the minds and hearts of the people of the region so that, being renewed, they may cooperate with your Spirit and together renew the face of the earth." This is something for us all.
For more on the Columbia River Pastoral Letter Project visit www.columbiariver.org.
Have you Heard the River's Story?
Joel Sisolak is neither scientist nor businessman. Joel is a storyteller. He tells the story of the Cedar River.
The Cedar River Watershed provides most of the Seattle area's drinking water as well as habitat for a diversity of species, including the largest run of sockeye salmon in the continental United States. The City of Seattle owns 90,546 acres of the Watershed, which includes 14,000 of old growth forests.
Joel is the executive director of Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (FCRW) and works to share the stories of the people and the river. His Christian faith guides him in his work and roots him in the preservation of creation.
"My love for the natural world magnifies and is magnified by my love for the creator of that world," Joel says.
While FCRW is a secular organization, Joel utilizes his faith to give him strength. Recently, FCRW expanded its work into the lower river basin where 60,000 people live. Joel sits on the Cedar River Council, which works to balance the needs of the local residents while providing for a healthy river and flourishing environment. He is just beginning to learn the stories of the lower basin and will soon weave them into his own.
Joel wants to tell stories that link the Cedar River to wise use. He works with volunteers on restoration projects, develops programs for the Cedar River Education Center, and leads tours into the watershed. All these activities lead to stories that will be shared with others and inspire connections with something greater.
Joel does not stop working for the Watershed when he leaves the office. He has engaged his own church in understanding the Watershed. His church receives its water from the Cedar River, and Joel helps his fellow congregants understand this physical connection. This connection has the power to bring his work into prayer with others.
Joel realizes the hard work in being a story teller. Stories about the environment and its degradation can be greatly disheartening, even paralyzing. However, Joel continues his work, commenting, "My work is an act of faith. Without faith and the use of language [for stories], I don't know I would have the staying power to do this work."
The Watershed provides critical resources to the greater Seattle area. It also provides a richness of stories. Joel shares these stories with anyone willing to listen.
Joel Sisolak is neither scientist nor businessman. Joel is a storyteller. He tells the story of the Cedar River.
The Cedar River Watershed provides most of the Seattle area's drinking water as well as habitat for a diversity of species, including the largest run of sockeye salmon in the continental United States. The City of Seattle owns 90,546 acres of the Watershed, which includes 14,000 of old growth forests.
Joel is the executive director of Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (FCRW) and works to share the stories of the people and the river. His Christian faith guides him in his work and roots him in the preservation of creation.
"My love for the natural world magnifies and is magnified by my love for the creator of that world," Joel says.
While FCRW is a secular organization, Joel utilizes his faith to give him strength. Recently, FCRW expanded its work into the lower river basin where 60,000 people live. Joel sits on the Cedar River Council, which works to balance the needs of the local residents while providing for a healthy river and flourishing environment. He is just beginning to learn the stories of the lower basin and will soon weave them into his own.
Joel wants to tell stories that link the Cedar River to wise use. He works with volunteers on restoration projects, develops programs for the Cedar River Education Center, and leads tours into the watershed. All these activities lead to stories that will be shared with others and inspire connections with something greater.
Joel does not stop working for the Watershed when he leaves the office. He has engaged his own church in understanding the Watershed. His church receives its water from the Cedar River, and Joel helps his fellow congregants understand this physical connection. This connection has the power to bring his work into prayer with others.
Joel realizes the hard work in being a story teller. Stories about the environment and its degradation can be greatly disheartening, even paralyzing. However, Joel continues his work, commenting, "My work is an act of faith. Without faith and the use of language [for stories], I don't know I would have the staying power to do this work."
The Watershed provides critical resources to the greater Seattle area. It also provides a richness of stories. Joel shares these stories with anyone willing to listen.
Watershed Services text: A Conservation Economy © Ecotrust, 2002
Stories & Images: © Earth Ministry, 2004
Return to the Pattern Map
