Watershed Research Paper

Our needs for plants and trees are an essential part of living because they produce our planets oxygen in our air as well as absorbing the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. With the increasing need for deforestation happening there is no place for the Carbon Dioxide to go. This compound stays in our air and allows for more Greenhouse gases to be trapped and stay on our planet’s atmosphere. Deforestation has also lead to millions of homeless wildlife and has led to many species being extinct or close to extinction. Such examples include the Polar Bear’s habitat disappearing and melting because of rising sea levels due to methane and Carbon Dioxide levels heating up the

One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for

Think about the following statement: “Only communities located downstream in a watershed need to be concerned about how the water resources are managed in the watershed.” In my opinion, I strongly disagree with this statement. This essay will explain why even communities upstream a watershed should be concerned due to acid rain, and the risk of contaminated drinking water.

Historically, this region was host to communities of Native Americans (East West Gateway Council of Governments, 2007, Leland, 1953). The abundance of freshwater and navigable rivers has attracted communities of people, and subsequently, commerce (Foley, 2000). Naturally, resources throughout the land have been extracted and utilized to further build these communities and attract prospective businesses. In the 19th century, this watershed was impacted by mining, logging, and grazing practices. In the early 20th century, logging dominated resource extraction (East West Gateway Council of Governments, 2007) which swiftly impacted the landscape. Ultimately, as logging stressed this region’s resources, state legislation allowed the federal government to purchase large tracts of land to establish national forest. Soon after, the national mobilization of the Civilian Conservation Corps, during the height

Background (1 ¶): What is the Duck Creek Watershed? What problems is it facing? What is being done so far to remedy these problems? Who is working on this problem?

For centuries, various civilizations have developed several methods to redirect water from its source to a specified locations. Early Egyptians used a shaduf to lift buckets of water from rivers and as the need to divert water further away from groundwater sources, the more sophisticated the methods became. The Romans built extensive quanats to deliver a fresh water supply while providing a sewage system. Ounce urbanization ensued, the demand for water would require this resource to travel hundreds of miles to reach its destination. Aqueducts, canals, ditches, and dams are all used today to transport water from areas who have an abundance of potable water to areas that lack drinkable water. This was exemplified in the short film “Water on the Edge”. The film addresses the many problems California faces after decades of using various methods for water diversion. Some of the problems include outdated watering systems, maintaining the health of natural systems, and providing water throughout the state while in a drought.

If we choose to keep cutting down trees and consuming natural resources then they won’t be able to replenish fast enough and there will be none left, posing many problems like having fresh water available to drink, wood to build products, and land to farm on. Obviously not many people are properly educated on environmental issues and how they make them worse but if we as a society choose not to educate those who aren’t then they will continue to use too many resources and not think about how their lifestyle is hurting our environment, which will make environmental problems even worse than they are today. Now as humans we’ve always wanted to get bigger and better, but if we keep expanding and building as much as we are then there won’t be as many resources available because we’ll have taken over spaces and land that was needed for those natural environments to live. Although this seems like a drastic point and something that we can’t really stop, if we always think that we need to keep building, someday we just won’t have any land to do it and also at the same time realize that we don’t have resources

“The watershed is bordered by the Palmer Divide to the north, Pikes Peak and the Pike National Forest to the west, and a minor divide 20 miles east of Colorado Springs”(Fountain Creek Watershed, 2015). The watershed area is described as an area with extremes temperature and precipitation, large elevation changes, steep gradients, diverse ecosystems, and a multitude of water uses. The elevation of this watershed area can vary from 14,100 feet to 5,000 feet of elevation. The Fountain Creek is the main creek in this watershed. This watershed supplies resources to more than 1,434,000 residents within the watershed. This is an increase of over 156% of population increase since1960. This watershed also provides irrigation to more than 100 farms and ranches in this area. “The rate of residential and commercial development is increasing in the watershed.” (Fountain Creek Watershed, 2015) The creek in this area does not provide public recreation due to some contamination issues in the past and recent events such as the E. coli case. People in the surrounding communities, do enjoy spending time next to the creek for recreation in many public parks.

The Colorado River is a very important water source for the Southwest and its people. But I think the river is most important for the farmers.

Alien species on the humber watersheds are a major ecological issue for the environment because they prevent other native species from living/growing in their natural habitat. Alien species do this by taking up physical space that native species need , preventing native species from reaching their food and water and spreading disease. The humber watershed is affected in two different ways: native species and the overall ecosystem of the watershed. invasive species on the humber watersheds have a major threat to the biodiversity of our waters,wetlands, and marshes. These organisms that originate from different ecosystems pose a great threat to our ecosystem because coming to our ecosystem their natural predators can no longer keep the population's growth rate under control and that causes an increase in population because of that devastating effects on native species, habitats, and ecosystems may occur. There are reports that over 185 non indigenous species were found Ontario’s Great lakes. Some invading species that been found in the Great lakes are the following;

Our watershed is important to us; it is what we need for are water, food, and growth of our environment. It makes us successful as a whole but when we damage it we damage everything we need and work to grow and protect. By doing a couple things for Greeley’s watershed we as a whole can start to change the pollution in our watershed. The plan is to use water barrels to collect the water that runs off the greenhouse at Northridge high school into gutters and the fills the barrels. When the greenhouse plants need water you get a hose and turn it on . with the native plants being planted around the greenhouse that are going to be grown the plants will be space out from the rest but be placed where they will be seen all around

Riparian areas are locations of many communities that not many acknowledge as a primary needs or impactful regions. Growing up along a riverbed opened my eyes to the importance of a healthy riparian area and what happens to the surrounding habitat if the area is not maintained. Without necessary support, a riverbed collapses over time and creates a layer of sediment on the riverbed, this results in a loss of riverside habitat and the loss of niche to many water creatures. I witnessed this as a need along Wolf Creek in Lacombe and decided that someone must take the initiative, I was that person. To raise funds and awareness of my project I entered the Caring For Our Watersheds competition, I qualified in the top ten and placed sixth, earning $600 for the

The Cache la Poudre watershed is a main watershed in Colorado. The Cache la Poudre River watershed provides water to the cities of Fort Collins, Windsor and Greeley. In this report the watershed physiographic data and basic tools for describing a watershed will be examined.

Prior to settlement of the western United States, the Colorado River roamed free. Starting from cool mountain streams, the river eventually became a thunderous, silty force of nature as it entered the canyons along its path. The river nourished wetlands and other riparian habitats from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the delta at the Sea of Cortez in Northwest Mexico. Settlers along the river harnessed these waters mainly for agriculture via irrigation canals, but flooding from spring runoff wreaked havoc on agricultural land, prevented development in the floodplain and full utilization of the water, a waste in the eyes of western farmers. In order to meet current and future water demands in the west, the Federal Government

The world’s natural resources are quickly being used up to extinction or are very close to that. From different species of animals to the planet’s natural resources from natural gas to fresh water, our planet’s natural resources are quickly eroding. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has the prediction of complete water scarcity by 2025 to the 1.8 billion people that are predicted to be living in regions with absolutely no water available. (theguardian.com)