Watershed Health
Like the health of all living things, watersheds exist in a delicate balance.
Rivers rely on healthy forests to absorb snow and rain, store and filter it in the soil, and produce clean water for streams and groundwater. We also know that resilience of forests is vital to protect watersheds in the face of potential catastrophic wildland fire and the increasing impacts of climate change.
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Over the decades that the Upper Merced River Watershed Council has served the community, we have seen multiple catastrophic fires impact our watershed. We remain committed to working with community partners on solutions to mitigate these impacts and help bring our watershed into a healthy balance.
- American Rivers: “Fire and Water: Wildfire preparedness is important for people and rivers”
FIRE + WATER(SHEDS)
Fire in watersheds is a natural process that helps create and maintain healthy ecological communities. However, over the years we have seen forests within the Merced Wild and Scenic River watershed experience extreme disturbances including catastrophic fires, extended drought, and beetle kill. These events are the result of climate change, forest overcrowding, past land management practices, and an increasing number of people living in what is called the wildland and urban interface.
As the Upper Merced River Watershed Council reinvigorates its efforts under a new watershed work plan, we look forward to working with community partners like CalFire and our federal land management agencies to improve forest health–and protect our communities–through
increasing fuels reduction
reintroducing fire as a natural process
treating and restoring degraded areas
protecting threatened forests with potential landscape-scale projects
Thankfully Wild and Scenic River designations and associated river management plans allow for flexibility to prepare and fight fire for the benefit of people and the river itself. As communities work to protect their rivers as Wild and Scenic . . . we must adopt up-to-date fire preparedness and wildfire fighting strategies into river management plans.
Controlled burn, Bureau of Land Management
Forest Health
Coming Soon