| | Soil, Water, and Watershed Management
Soil - The Foundation Soil is that part of the Earth that combines decomposed rock minerals with organic matter from plants and animals. It contains all variety of living organisms and is foundation for all life on the range and n the forest. Soil is also used as a foundation material for construction, such as, roads and trails, dams, buildings, and campgrounds. As soil erodes it becomes a sediment source: too much and it becomes a pollutant. Water - The "Life Blood of the Range" A simple molecule made up of an oxygen and two hydrogen atoms, water dissolves rock into nutrients, transports the nutrients to plant roots, provides the fluids of life for plants and animals, is the habitat for aquatic organisms, carves the earth, provides for human domestic and industrial needs, provides electrical power, and much more. Watershed Management - A Concept The Watershed Management concept is a way of approaching the management of activities in an area (and occasionally the resources themselves) that recognizes the interconnectivity of all resources and activities. It uses the watershed as the bases for evaluation and planning . The watershed approach is unique in that watersheds are hierarchical (evaluation can shift between larger and smaller watersheds), impartial to specific resources or activities, includes humans as part of the ecosystem. The Watershed Management approach to ecosystem management is one of the ecosystem management approaches used by BLM. What is a Watershed? A Watershed is more than a physical landscape that is defined by its ridges with one outlet for water to flow. Watersheds support a variety of resources, uses, activities, and values, where everything is linked in such a way that eventually all things are affected by everything else in the watershed. Perhaps more importantly, a watershed contains the history of all that went before, and the spirit of all who touched it remains. |
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