With the number and pace of things to be concerned about this year, it can be difficult to know where to direct our attention. For me the inspiration to focus has come from moments of laughter with my partner throughout the day as we awkwardly work from home, the gift of tending a crockpot dinner for us between online-meetings, and a few special mornings I have spent alone watching the world wake up alongside marsh wrens and redwing blackbirds in the wetlands of the Long Tom. These modest connections are all parts of the relationships, traditions, and places that create my home. And, the health of my home is what demands my attention now more than ever.
Home is more than an address. For all of you who consider the Long Tom part of our home, this watershed needs you.
As you will see in our Annual Report, the Long Tom community has plenty to be proud of for how it has worked through The Council to care for this shared home watershed. And, many from our watershed family have stepped up to give in support of their council even in these uncertain times.
And, our watershed needs are real. As state agencies reshuffle their shrinking budgets and private foundations pivot to address the most emergent needs for community health, watershed health is at risk of taking a back seat. But for many who depend on clean drinking water from the Long Tom, fire resilient forests near their homes and businesses, and healthy habitats that provide for both people and wildlife, this must be a “both/and” conversation. Human health is dependent upon a healthy environment, and a healthy environment cannot exist if the communities within it are not also thriving.
The Long Tom Watershed Council has a long history of thinking creatively to see a whole watershed as more than just people, fish, birds and plants occupying the same squares on a map while trying to get along. But rather, as neighbors with rich histories, contexts and wisdom to be learned and shared with each other across differences.
In the coming months and years as our nation recovers from our current health crises, it is essential that we re-imagine a future that honors link between environmental and human health. And, as we confront the realities of our ongoing social challenges, it is important that we work to rediscover how our human relationships with the land can only be healed when we heal our relationships with each other.
For more than 23 years the Long Tom Watershed Council has been a friendly partner to watershed neighbors working to make sense of essential environmental questions together. With your support, we will continue to join your neighbors in dialogue on these ongoing questions at the heart of a healthier home watershed.
If you are able, please give a generous gift to the watershed council this holiday season. We would be thrilled to put it to work on your behalf in building the healthier future for the Long Tom Watershed in 2021 and years to come.
Thank you for all you do for our watershed home, and best wishes to you and everyone who you choose to safely share it with this season.
Sincerely,
Clinton Begley, Executive Director
PS: The 2020 CARES Act provides special incentives for charitable giving this tax year – even if you don’t itemize your returns! I know your generosity comes from your deep care for this watershed and our community and not the tax breaks. And, this year’s incentives may just help grow your impact. Talk to your tax professional to find out more.