It is beginning to feel more like spring in most places, and we are so ready for the warmer weather, sunshine, and growth.
President's Message | March/April 2024
It is beginning to feel more like spring in most places, and we are so ready for the warmer weather, sunshine, and growth. This edition of Water Resources IMPACT shares a theme with last summer’s AWRA conference on Land and Water. In that gathering, we heard from researchers and practitioners whose experiences speak to the past, present, and future of the places where land and water meet (which is to say, our earth!). The articles in these pages look closely at the particulars of these intersections. For instance, Heather Hansman explores how climate change is factoring into land-use decisions, from Louisiana, where water is too plentiful, to Colorado, where water is scarce, and Minnesota, where the planning is too often silo-ed. In all instances, a way forward appears when water- and land-use discussions are integrated.
Elsewhere, we hear about how California is using Flood-MAR to transform excessive water from a curse into a blessing. And we learn how the soil’s storage potential can be enhanced by restoring an ecologically sound grazer-prey relationship in the American West. In some places, like Oregon, land use has been a part of water planning and environmental efforts for decades. In other areas, like Alberta, Canada, integration of land-use planning has only more recently been acknowledged for the benefits it provides.
As climate change progresses, the efforts of historical figures like John Wesley Powell are catching on in many geographical locations and centers of thought where they were once ignored, and increasingly, contemporary practitioners intentionally account for watersheds and flood plains at all levels of planning.
You will read about all of these topics and more in this edition of IMPACT. As we welcome warmer weather once again, we hope you will join us in looking back to last summer’s wisdom on Land and Water
Rabia Ahmed is the 2024-2025 president of AWRA.