Sponge Valley Workshop

Join The Land and Leadership Initiative for a live, in-person workshop introducing the multiple interrelated benefits that would flow if the Ventura River Watershed focused on becoming a "Sponge Valley" and activating the small water cycle. This understanding is particularly important as we face what is potentially the most intense El Niño in history.

Learn how to dramatically reduce the risk and impact of flooding, fire, heatwaves, and drought…by working with (not against) nature's own processes. When a landscape is fully functional, water is captured uphill, and across whole landscapes, (not just in dams and ponds.) This changes everything, including local temperatures and rainfall. We can do this in a number of innovative ways. We can kickstart it using process-based restoration like check dams, ponds, beaver restoration, and gully stuffing. But we can also work at a landscape scale through grazing and agricultural management, and urban rain capture. Healthy soil with biologically diverse vegetation can regain the structural and functional integrity of a sponge, and can soak up rain and store water everywhere.

To learn more and register, please visit the Land and Leadership Initiative website.