Mr. Hudson’s recent editorial referencing my article in ‘On Land’ magazine managed to miss the point entirely. I was not arguing for increased irrigation for livestock, nor was I advocating for business as usual. Quite the contrary.
I inquired whether improving the health of watersheds throughout the West could be part of the solution to water shortages.
Science is demonstrating that evapotranspiration from plants plays an important role in the natural water cycle, functioning as a kind of biotic pump. In places where vegetation is being removed at large scale through urban development and poor land management, the cycle begins to break down and precipitation patterns change.
Healthy watersheds not only have the capacity to slow, infiltrate and store water, but possibly to improve precipitation at a regional scale.
Unfortunately, in the battles over scarce water, both native and agricultural plants are increasingly seen as competitors because of the fact that they consume water. The logical conclusion to this line of thinking is that we should strip all of our watersheds of any vegetation so the water can get most efficiently downstream to meet human needs.
For most of us, this would be a preposterous solution. Intuitively, barren watersheds would seem to accelerate desertification. They certainly would accelerate flooding, reduce infiltration and increase sedimentation — not to mention devastating impacts to the entire ecosystem. The alternative — improving the health and vegetative cover of our watersheds through restoration, better land management and better urban planning — is worth exploring as we consider water solutions for the West.
Lesli Allison
Chief Executive Officer
Western Landowners Alliance
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