OK.. I think this has run its course..

First, thank you all, for your answers.. Your reponses basically proved the point I was trying to show our Forest and Watershed Health Office Director..

Tuesday's answer was the closest.. In fact it was pretty much spot on..

There were a handful of others that were pretty close but not quite..

The textbook definition we use is: "The term watershed refers to the geographic boundaries of a particular waterbody, its ecosystem and the land that drains to it. A watershed also includes groundwater aquifers that discharge to and receive discharge from streams, wetlands, ponds, and lakes. Large watersheds are sometimes referred to as river basins."

In this case, there's no reason to feel bad if you don't know the answer.. Most people don't.. So now it's my job to figure out some good ways to clue people in.

Watersheds and forests go hand in hand. If one is unhealthy, the will be too in most cases... So while we as a nation (and Canada too) fret about forest health, we shouldn't forget about our watersheds...

I'm going to stop right now, or I will end up on my soapbox, and you REALLY don't want me to go there unless you want a lecture about how we have too many trees... :lol:

Again, thank you all for helping me out.. When we get the program going, I'll share the things I've come up with.. You've been a BIG help!!!

I believe it is somthing like the area around or near water (lakes, oceans, swamps, etc).

Dan, you can borrow my soapbox any time. I can and do expound on the importance of spaying and neutering your pets, bite preventing, and other animal health issues so often that I say I have a portable soapbox!

Thanks Tues... I tend to get pretty militant on my environmental stand, but not in the way most people think.. I start off with my statement that there are "too many trees" and then work my way into "use more paper" and "Superfires have more affect on global climate change than man does."..

You should see the teachers' jaws drop when I lay those on their students.. :lol:

I have never heard of that in my life lol

A forestry guy saying we have too many trees? How ironic is that! I figure trees mean job security for you. :) You might just have to give us some background on that statement cuz I doubt I'm the only one baffled by your statement...

Ok, ok.. I guess I asked for it.. The simple answer, boiled down is:

Following a century of bad fire suppression policy, spreading of population into "wildland areas" and periods of cyclical but prolonged drought, many areas of North America have simply too many trees for ecosystems to maintain a healthy status.

For instance.. In pre-settlement times, an acre of forest may have had 100 trees and lots of diverse ground vegetation. Over the years, it became policy to put out any forest fires that popped up.. What this did was to remove a natural, needed element from the ecosystem, robbing the forest of what it needs to "clean out the trash".. Without fire, vegetation grew unchecked, choking out diverse plant species and driving away wildlife. The more trees that grew, the more competition for water robbed the trees of vitality and the ability to ward off insect and disease.. So that same acre that should only have 100 trees, may now have 500-1,000..

Without enough water to stay healthy, these trees became fuel for fire.. So instead of slow moving ground fires that cleared the brush and trash away, you get what we have today... Superfires that lay waste to the landscape, choke the watersheds with debris and destroy vital animal habitat.

So, now we know that "Fire Good".. But with the spread of population into wildland areas, even though we know fire is needed, we can't let natually caused fires to burn, in order to protect lives and property.. SO....

It's up to communities, private land owners and others to take matters into their own hands and conduct treatments to remove trash trees and forest litter (leaves and needles and such).. Once threes have been cut, making sure to leave a good mix of diverse species as well as old and young trees, fire can be reintroduced...

Especially in the Western US, but now even more in the Southeast, drought is an huge danger.. Think of this like running a race with 20 people....

After the race, you are thirsty.. You are given a bottle of water and drink it down.. afterward, your thirst has been quenched and you feel good.. BUT.. What if you had to share that one bottle with all the other people in the race. You'd only get a sip or two at the most, and would still be thirsty and worn out.. That's what's happening in our forests... In New Mexico between 2000 and 2004, we lost something like 70 million pinon pine trees (our state tree) to a bark beetle that was allowed to flourish because of drought combined with an overly abundant supply of the tree...

Sorry about that.. But you were warned :lol:....

Good information to have. I had no idea. I knew how wildlife was impacted by our continued sprawl into formerly rural areas, but didn't know how much further that reached. Learn something new every day...

Hi Dan,
I believe watershed is the natural habitat surrounding a body of water, ie runoffs, sloughs, etc

Dan - you so need to get the job to pay for you to make a trip to San Diego and be on the "Tree Huggers" show! Though I don't know if any music would ever get played on that station again if you and Tommy got to talking...

Dan

I am cheating a bit here because ever since I migrated to the northwest from the southeast I have become very involved in Disaster Preparation and have a bit of an iinsight that I had no clue about before I moved.

My understanding of a watershed is: that is an area of land where all of the water drains to the same place – this includes water that flows on the surface and water located underground. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes and can are not territorial as far as county, city or state boundaries are concerned.

Now I am going to read all the answers posted.

Let us know what the official answer is, ok?

Roberta

PS Just read your official response to all of us, wow. I knew a little bit about the fires because of my work with the fire department. We are in a mutual aid agreement with neighboring states but it is daunting to read about the impact in terms of 'drinking one bottle of water'. Thanks for posting this.

My pleasure, Roberta.. Glad I could give you some insights...

Liza.. I'd love to do the show.. Too bad they won't do a phone-in...

Thanks again to all who answered!

Do you have access to an ISDN line that can broadcast? They just got a new studio and could do it that way... hmmmmm

Is that the kind of line that allows you to sound like you're actually "in studio" when you're not?

I don't know. I have a few contacts around with the TV and radio stations.. I know they use them when the TV stations do "special reports" on the stations they're partnered with.

Is your station owned by Citadel, by any chance?