Watershed means the water and the land area that drains rain, snow, and groundwater into a single outlet, such as rivers, creeks, lakes, wetlands, aquifers and oceans. A watershed can be a few acres, such as a small pond, or hundreds of square miles as in rivers.
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Healthy watersheds provide many ecosystem services that are essential to our social, environmental and economic well being, which include:
- Nutrient cycling
- Carbon storage
- Erosion/sedimentation control
- Water storage
- Water filtration
- Flood control
- Soil formation
- Wildlife movement corridors
- Jobs
- Income
- Recreation
- Food
- Health and nutrition
- Fire protection
- Cooling
- Quality of life