A Tale of Two Rivers

This past week I walked alongside a 51 mile concrete canal built between 1938 - 1960 which sought to contain the Los Angeles River. The premise was flood control for a growing city. This river which begins in the Simi Hills, once provided a verdant watershed, home to waterfowl, steelhead, wildlife. Slowly however, since the late 1980's the river is being restored to life, as citizen advocates folar.org, seek to mitigate the excess of the past, so that river and people can learn to live in harmony.

From 1938 - 1960 the LA River was dredged, straightened, paved with concrete, for flood control.

Walking with my LA based daughter, I was thinking about the challenge of reclaiming a river from miles of concrete. It was then, I saw a woman along a strip of concrete, digging. We introduced ourselves and she told me she now lived in the city but grew up in Wyoming as an Arapaho, living on the Wind River Reservation. She had found a break in the concrete and with a shovel was digging down into the mud trapped more than a foot below. She said, 'among my people, we believe that Turtle brought life from the mud of the river and created the earth. I come down to the river, to allow creation to breathe.'

Since late 1980's activists have been working to restore the LA River to a vibrant wetlands.

Imagine, a world where creation can breathe. Imagine, a world where rivers can flow, fish can swim and waterfowl can feed and fly. The woman said, 'yesterday, under the bridge in Los Feliz, I saw two steelhead back from the ocean to spawn. Our river is coming back to life.'

What are the waters and woodlands near you, that need to breathe, that need to come back to life?

I belong to the Ipswich River Watershed Association. On the opposite side of the continent, my home river also struggles to flow. Here in Massachusetts, we are in the midst of a drought. Our hard used river provides a source of water for drinking and irrigation for fourteen communities, with no agreed upon regulation for use. Our total watershed draininig 155 square miles, and all our neighbors, wildlife and human, rely upon a vibrant, sustainable river.

Drought and over use has weakened the capacity of the Ipswich to nourish wildlife and humans

Today, many portions of the Ipswich are dry. The wildlife that rely upon this watershed are dying. The humans who rely on access to water for drinking and irrigation are struggling to have enough. Must it be this way?

Imagine when humans come together to agree on regulation of this precious resource, so that all neighbors, wildlife and human, have enough. Imaine what can be as we work together for the common good.

I think of the wise Arapaho woman I met. She is doing her part, digging through the concrete, so that her river can again, 'breathe'. Her example inspires and challenges me. What will you and I do to help creation breathe?