Watershed Symposium 2022

Managing resilient watersheds and water resources, especially during a time of rapid change and unprecedented challenge, requires institutions and governance structures that are also resilient, robust, and nimble. Effective and adaptive institutions emerge when we invest in the people that are at their core and ground them in thoughtful governance structures. Utah has excellent examples of how the linkages between people, institutions, and water resources have resulted in innovative and collaborative solutions to some of our biggest challenges. There are other examples of governance structures that may need to be redesigned to effectively manage the complexity, magnitude, and urgency currently facing western water managers. As a community of water professionals, working together to solve some of the most challenging water resources issues in decades, we must also ensure that we have the governance frameworks and institutional capacity to be successful.