Unfortunately, most reporting and discussion about water in the West focuses on water administration, water rights negotiations, getting water from point A to point B most efficiently, and limiting losses from evaporation and transpiration. From that vantage point, we should take all the vegetation off the uplands and pipe water down the system, which, of course, would be absurd.  

In this live one-day event, we will call attention to the need to consider the larger water cycle and the feedback loops between land stewardship and water availability, including the possibility of managing the water cycle to maximize precipitation. In a series of engaging conversations between scientists, advocates and land managers, we will look at the existing science (what we know and what we still don’t) and show examples from the ground on practical applications. We investigate how we can and are improving the water holding capacity of soil, the role of transpiration in precipitation, opportunities to reduce dust on snow, the relationship between water/irrigation and biodiversity, and more key connections.  

Specifically, we will raise important questions that ought to be considered during the post-2026 guideline negotiations:  

• What does the science and practice say about our ability to impact water cycles, precipitation and runoff through land management and restoration? 

• What impact would policies that tended to dry out headwaters and upland landscapes in an effort to move water “more efficiently” downstream to reservoirs have on the resilience of the system as a whole, including on the abundance of water? 

• How can we and why should we protect the ability of land stewards to creatively steward water for multiple benefits? 

• What would water governance in the West, or Colorado River Basin specifically, that considered all these factors look like?