Who is a Water Protector

Who is a Water Protector?

Do you love fishing, hunting, boating or swimming? Then you probably want to become a water protector. Being a water protector is standing up for water everywhere, and the best thing about it is that anyone who knows that water is life can be one. Unfortunately our water is threatened in many ways; the sources from which we get our water i.e. the river, the mountain snow runoff, and our underground aquifers are not recharging as fast as we are using them. Climate change caused droughts and fires are also a threat to our water sources, causing drought events and pollution from fire debris. The ways that we protect water are by restoring unhealthy streams and riparian areas, planting vegetation and building erosion control structures so that ecosystems can be resilient against droughts, monitoring forests to prevent wildfires, making others aware of the issue and voicing our concern to our political leaders to ask for help. 

Where did the term “water protector” come from?

The first water protectors emerged from the uniting forces of the Nodapl movement. The Nodapl movement was in response to the construction of an oil pipeline named the “Dakota access pipeline”- 1,172 mile long pipeline that runs through western ND to southern IL underneath the Mississippi and Missouri river and under lake Oahe near the Lakota reservation. This pipeline construction undermined a treaty that protected a burial ground of the Lakota people, but the threat of leaking oil also undermined the bodies of water mentioned. Pipelines are a fast way to transport oil underground but instead of avoiding these important water sources, the company decided to build it right over. Since then the oil pipeline had leaked many times, polluting the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and lake Oahe, which is relied upon by millions of people. Situations like this one is why its important that people all around the country know what’s going on. If we don’t take action to protect our water than millions of people could be drinking and using polluted water, which can cause diseases and disabilities. 

The four RE’s of being a water protector

Be a watershed superhero attending to healthy function and processes for land and community to thrive together. Be:

• REgenerative
• REsilient
• REstorative
• REspectful