Forests and Water

Western forests and the watersheds they support face unprecedented challenges. For decades, forest managers have grappled with the legacy of past and present management practices (timber harvest and associated infrastructure, livestock grazing, fire suppression, beaver eradication, and mineral/energy development) and ongoing threats from diseases and invasive species. More recently, they’ve struggled to keep up with rapidly increasing motorized recreational use, residential developments, and homelessness in forested landscapes. A changing climate greatly accelerates and magnifies these challenges, increasing the frequency and/or severity of droughts and floods, catastrophic wildfires, insect epidemics, and climate-induced tree mortality. All of these conditions threaten the ecological integrity of our forests, and particularly their ability to provide high-quality, sustainable water for people and nature.

With support from and close cooperation with the Water Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation engaged in an interactive process between December 2022 and May 2023 to identify and describe opportunities for protecting critical forests and improving forest heath to ensure safe and reliable water for people and nature. The assessment outlines challenges and opportunities, highlights elements for successful strategies, and proposes goals and metrics for measuring success – all focused on the role of philanthropy in leveraging public and private funding and supporting diverse collaborative partners for maximum impact.

Protecting critical forests and improving forest health to ensure safe and reliable water for people and nature is a complex undertaking, requiring a variety of actions that, collectively:

Protect the integrity and function of forested watersheds and riverscapes through land management and land conservation emphasizing water source protection
Restore degraded forest watersheds and riverscapes to improve ecological functions, ecosystem services such as water quality, and resilience to drought, wildfires, and flooding
Re-connect terrestrial and aquatic watershed function, from mountain headwaters to valley riverscapes and groundwater through integrated, cross-boundary planning and management and strategic land conservation
Engage members of the public, their elected leaders, resource managers, tribes, local and state government agencies, water and power utilities, and other diverse partners to understand and value forest watersheds and to take actions to protect and improve them

This assessment is the result of interviews and feedback from knowledgeable individuals representing diverse interests in forest and watershed health, many of whom are affiliated with the Healthy Headwaters Alliance, a coalition of western water leaders and innovators coordinated by the National Wildlife Federation.