Rainbow through windows covered in rain

Voices of Water: Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

This is a campaign to promote astounding, simultaneous landscape and water cycle restoration that is very doable, no matter where we are, on farms, ranches, forests or in urban areas. Restoring water cycles is critical for all areas.

March 8, 2017 | Source: Biodiversity for a Livable Climate | by

This is a campaign to promote astounding, simultaneous landscape and water cycle restoration that is very doable, no matter where we are, on farms, ranches, forests or in urban areas. Restoring water cycles is critical for all areas.

The key to stable water cycles is allowing rain and snow to soak into the land close to where it falls, so it can replenish the moisture in the atmosphere to fall again in a steady cycle of moderate precipitation – the short or small water cycle that is vital to local climates. But in fact we humans have been depleting water cycles for a long, long time with poor management of water. We have allowed water to flow off bare farm fields, down deforested slopes, and literally down the drain as stormwater in our developed areas. This constant “bleeding” of water from our human-managed landscapes must be slowed down because it is contributing mightily to excessive drought, floods, heat waves, severe storms and sea level rise.

But we can manage our landscapes effectively to bring barren land back to vegetative lushness, productivity and habitat for wildlife.