The Many Demands Placed on Watersheds

​Once a month Little River Wetlands Project hosts a community forum, Breakfast on the Marsh. It is usually held at Indiana Wesleyan University Fort Wayne. The forum has guest speakers who address projects, land and/or water sites or issues related to nature. In November 2023 Amy Silva, Executive Director of LRWP introduced Philip Anderson. Mr. Anderson addressed the many competing demands placed on watersheds.  
 
Mr. Anderson was interactive with the audience. He engaged them regularly. He described himself as a teacher, a traveler, and a (story) teller.  These three core characteristics guided his view of the many uses of water.
 
Mr. Anderson identified multiple constituents who made demand of water use. These included farmers, developers, cities, industry, and nature.  He asked us to identify where we use water and where does that water come from. This increased a sense of interconnectedness. He also stressed that while there are different perspectives on the use of water, we are best served by trying to look beyond our own perspective.
 
He introduced the audience to multiple watersheds, locally, regionally, and internationally. For the LRWP audience that included Northeast Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, the Great lakes, and Canada. Locally that included the St. Jospeh Watershed, the Maumee Watershed, and the Auglaize Watershed.
 
Challenges to the health of watersheds included agricultural contamination in the form of fertilizers and pesticides, urban pollutants, and climate change. He pointed out that our leaders and communities address these issues  in terms of places (geography), uses, and policy. That leads to a collision of perspectives or a convergence. To increase the chances of convergence and collaboration he lead the audience in some problem-solving exercises. It was this focus on process that kept a knowledgeable audience engaged. As wetland protections are eroding these skills may prove helpful.

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