Research

Research is the practical extension of our innate sense of curiosity. Anyone who has the ability to make observations and ask questions is therefore empowered to participate in research. At the beginning of the 21st Century there is a greater need than ever for research into the methods of monitoring, supporting, conserving and restoring native ecosystems. While working closely with the leading researchers in the field, the WATER Institute also supports citizen-based research where people are observant of the world around them, capable of recognizing problems, asking questions and moving toward solutions.

What's your relationship to water? To your watershed? Is anyone managing your Water Budget ? In an effort to understand the hydrologic cycle on the very land where we live and work we have installed a computerized weather station and groundwater well-monitoring equipment. These devices help to correlate rainfall amounts with the recharge of groundwater reserves, and the enhancement of well production and sustained yield. This monitoring will provide data to help develop an OAEC Water Budget, and will be useful as a model for larger projects in the Dutch Bill Creek Watershed and the Russian River Basin.

A primary goal of the WATER Institute is to protect and restore native biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Below is a list of a few of the ways we actively engage the landscape to best determine the baseline conditions of our place towards the creation and implementation of a wholistic management plan.

• We have drafted thorough species lists for plants, animals and fungi.
• We have identified populations of rare plants or animals and monitored their progress through time.
• We monitor invasive exotic species and work to slow and stop their spread and subsequent diminishment of native habitat.
• We monitor restoration activities through time to determine the effectiveness of a particular technique.
• We have adopted forest thinning strategies based on the forest thinning studies which have shown a resultant increase of under-story species, and “greater growth potential” for the remaining trees.
• We experiment with methods of slowing water down and thus reducing its erosive capacity.
• By photographing a place before, during and after we can see the reaction of the ecosystem to an act of restoration.
• We have been studying mowing as a method of coastal prairie management. Exclusion plots help us compare the effects of mowing on our plant community. After four years there are some easily noticeable effects.
• In 2004, the WATER Institute began to develop a practical, replicable methodology for assessing the Water Budget and overall "health" of a watershed.