Guardian,
My job’s probably one of the toughest at WildEarth Guardians.
It’s definitely the most unconventional job for a group
that’s known across the country for winning landmark legal decisions to protect
public lands and endangered species and holding our elected officials
accountable to a higher environmental standard.
As the restoration projects director, I’m often
up before dawn on a cold winter’s morning working with a small crew
to plant cottonwoods and willows along an overgrazed stream or river
in the Southwest. We often work 12-hour days for weeks on end to do
our part to jump-start a river’s healing.
It’s hard work, but it’s incredibly
gratifying. Watching a river heal,
in part because of my long hours, feels great.
I do it because I
love rivers. They’re critical to
life in the arid West.
And yet we continue
to treat them so badly. Between cattle grazing that strips stream banks
bare to ATVs that erode sediment into a stream channel, rivers and streams have
suffered immense abuse and neglect. Today, western streams are one of the
most endangered ecosystems in all of North America.
We’ve seen it happen
again and again – and we can’t just stand by and watch.
This is why, about a decade ago, WildEarth Guardians started
our river restoration program. Since then, we’ve restored major sections of
rivers across the Southwest by planting over 250,000 trees with our restoration crew and through our Stream Team volunteer events.
Watch our next “Guardians on the
Ground” video to learn more about our river restoration program.
Thanks to our staff and volunteers, the
change has been remarkable. We hope that this
holiday season, you will help us continue our success on the river by donating
to our river restoration program today.
Water is so critical to life here in the West, and
with your help we can continue repairing degraded waterways to ensure that our
area’s unique plants, animals – as well as ourselves – can count on clean water
and healthy rivers for future generations.
