Exploring together is a path of sharing and caring, built on right intention, generosity, and reciprocity. We call this Wayfinding. In our watershed, it means healing and tending while looking out for one another. It is an imperative.
Wayfinding is an everyday practice of discovery
GoWayfinding is a call to action.
California rivers once meandered freely, and the Native peoples who lived along them knew them well and cared for them. Then we constrained and straightened the rivers to suit other needs, and now we are learning what that has cost. The river’s natural system has degraded; both animal and plant communities have declined. Invasive species have done lasting damage, and floods reach places that never used to flood. The way of life of Native peoples was devastated. The question before us is how to heal our relationship with the river, in partnership with the people who have long known it.
The call is twofold: let the Russian River run freely and find its own way, and find ours. Our part is to serve that need, side by side with the people who have lived with the river. The watershed then becomes an exemplary living system for future generations to steward and enjoy.
Two Responsibilities
The Long View. A collaborative, three-generation vision to free the river, show what restoration can achieve, and in time make the Russian River watershed a place where people live in harmony with nature.
Go Wayfinding. Small gatherings in Sonoma County’s Russian River watershed, where we exchange life’s daily competitions for shared awe and togetherness.
The Long View
A Three Generation Vision
Rivers keep a different calendar than we do. So we are developing a three-generation, sixty-year plan for the Russian River watershed, divided into five-year sections. Each section gives us clear aims to work toward and an opportunity to pause, learn, and adjust. Who are we? We are local tribes, organizations working in the watershed, vineyards, hospitality, and businesses - all invested in the river’s health.
Go Wayfinding: Gatherings on the River
Go Wayfinding gatherings are how we begin. They are time together on land and water for people who don’t yet think of themselves as part of this watershed. Technology people and AI developers are especially welcome, because their work will shape the next sixty years as much as any agency or vineyard. Come to the watershed, meet others with common ground, and find your own way in.