Recreational Value of the Boise Watershed
Submitted by Cheryl Werhner on Mon, 2017-07-10 00:00
We're all connected by water.
Our society values, governs, builds infrastructure around, recreates, and provides food from water. One way that I am personally connected to the water is through recreation. I love to hike, bike and paddle, in and near water. It provides breathtaking beauty in lakes and rivers and great sport as kayakers and rafters traverse the waterways. Many of Boise's citizens are attracted to this area because of the abundance of natural beauty and the access they have to the outdoors. I value the recreational value that the watershed provides in this region.
How are you connected to the Boise River Watershed?
Comments
Policy
Water is central to life in the Treasure Valley and government plays such a key role in how it is consumed and controlled. If we (teachers and students!) can recreate in the Boise watershed then we can understand the complexity of our watershed. Hiking along the river, biking in the mountains and floating downstream can connect us to the water. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Recreation and irrigation
I'm connected to the watershed by recreation and irrigation. I enjoy the sound of rushing water and what better place to hear that than the Boise river. I love how it flows right through our town and we ha EA the green belt to go right alongside it. I like riding my bike to Quinn's pond and doing stand up paddle boarding there.
Great question!
Great question, and upon reflecting I realized that I am connected to the Boise River Watershed in a number of ways. I too love to use the watershed for recreation purposes. I love to swim in the Boise River on hot summer days. We love to camp along various rivers in the watershed and I have enjoyed boating at Lucky Peak. I also know our valley relies heavily on the water for agricultural purposes and many of my local foods (& wines!) would not be possible without this water source. But probably most important is the fact that my husband is a water resource engineer and has worked on a handful of projects involving the Boise River Watershed. So I've now realized that part of our family's income directly relies on the watershed. I have talked to him about some of his projects in the past and it is truly amazing all the groups that need to work together to ensure our watershed is healthy and being properly manganged.
I don't take the watershed for granted because it's what provides us with a wonderful quality of life for the residents of the Treasure Valley. I think it would be a great lesson in my enviromental science class to have students brainstorm ecosystenm services provided by our local watershed and then pose this same question to them. It would be interesting to see all the ways they realize they too are connected.