Roots

Just as rivers are made up of smaller tributaries and streams, the river basins are made of smaller bits often referred to as watersheds. It was interest in my local watershed that became the genesis of this entire project. A short way from where I live a creek travels under the road. This creek flows westward, looking upstream, on a clear day, one can see Mount Hood.

Most everything in the local environment will usually end up in its drainage system. So all of my local rain, whether through storm drains or direct runoff, heads into this creek. This channeling takes with it much of our waste, litter, oil dripping from cars, spilled coffee or soda, blood, sweat, and tears. Most watersheds join others and become an outlet to the ocean, taking all of this out to the ocean.

I would often wonder where this little stream, which I see quite often, goes. When I travel to other parts of town and see another stream, are they the same? If not, will they join together before each comes to a river? How does this eventually get to sea? I see mountains all around and I just imagine that there must be some passage out through the coastal range, some canyon that runs out to the ocean. So I start checking in Google Earth, I trace it's path, as each creek joins to stream to river. It moves west, it moves south, it moves east, it moves north. I'm in the center of a sort of spiral.

The roots of a basin are like an inverse of tree roots, reaching up one creek at a time through mountains and hills. Draining them and melting them, pulling out their nutrients and cleansing them. Rivers, like our own circulatory or respiratory system, are important for cycling materials, to avoid the stasis-like state of deserts and tundras. Like maintaining a healthy blood supply, free of excess sodium and cholesterol, with a healthy diet, we need to keep our watersheds clean. Everything that is dumped into the water supply doesn't simply disappear forever into the ocean. For once that ocean water evaporates and becomes rain over us once more, what we sent to sea returns. The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf resulted not only in blackened beaches, but a fall of oily rain.

My creek, Beaverton Creek, runs through the city of the same name. Recently, I learned that the city has plans for development. Not just of expanding the limits of urban sprawl, but also of the protection of the watersheds. These plans are not just protecting the lands immediately around these creeks, but their trees and plants and animals. The trees we help prevent erosion that could otherwise undermine nearby buildings. But there are plans also to make the wetlands more park like. And I do not see this as a way of spoiling them. Instead, it will bring them out of hiding, more into public view. From there, each of us will have a more intimate relationship with our water and what effect we have upon it. No longer will it be someone else's problem, instead, keeping it clean will be in our best interest both in terms of health and aesthetics.

Next time, I will show my other little project with the Beaverton Creek.

Happy Hunting,
Brett