Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison explains how the USA missed the opportunity in 1878 to create political boundaries based on watershed boundaries, and discusses the multi-faceted implications of that super big mistake.
My drawing of the US map was copied from the United Watershed States of America map:
Andrew Millison’s links:
https://www.andrewmillison.com/
https://permaculturedesign.oregonstate.edu/
29 Comments
This was an amazing video. I have learned so much from you videos…. Thank you for all the work you do. Would love a visit from you to our farm one day!
Looks like Nevada and Wyoming got screwed.
Don't expect proper logic from democracy 😂 it's an ancient and obsolete idea. Imagine… a bunch of monkeys choosing our leaders in a popularity contest 🙊🤦🏼♂️
So in this alternate timeline LA wouldn’t be the mega city it is as it would be limited to the water resources of its watershed. I guess Antioch would end up being California’s largest city as it has access to both the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers?
So do you have some political, social, planning ideas for ameliorating this at least? I can see that some natural disasters will vacate areas that COULD allow us to redesign that area. Then there's LID, Low Impact Development. And what else? Got a vision around this? Could you do a video on that. It's depressing to see the problem without at least some hope to even slow move it to a more positive direction. If you have a video or 2, please pin at the end of this one. I see you have one on repairing a watershed.
In Texas, we have river authorities who are in charge of the watershed. Much of their planning work involves creating coalitions with counties surrounding it. So, multiple political units have to agree on an approach. Mine had to overcome hatred from downstream counties who have suffered greatly from their destruction of the river to "control floods." The concrete spit millions of gallons of water swiftly out of the county and blew out river banks, destroying beautiful age-old riverside trees and flooding ranch land. They've "restored" the ecosystem at the cost of many millions and worked on helping the other counties. It helps that all counties in the watershed pay taxes to the river authority, so have a stake in what they do. Now our river is famous. Authorities have come from China and elsewhere to see it.
Andy, do you know if there is any movement/ network/ political party trying to revive watershed democracy? It would help out in the geremandering and constant redistricting that hold some states in gridlock.
love this!
This was a profound idea and it made great sense "beyond the hundredth meridian." But east of there, water is plentiful. It's really irrelevant. Someone who is born and raised in the East or even the Midwest simply doesn't need to think about water conservation. Which makes it that much more frustrating to those in America's Empty Quarter where literally every decision is made first by thinking about water and its affects. Neither group understands the other because the cultural differences are so huge.
I can't imagine the American government purposefully and systematically dividing the American people for money.
Dude, you are putting oil and coal companies out of business.
Arguably the mistake has its origins even earlier with the Treaty of 1818 that set the boundary between the US and what became Canada along the 49th parallel rather than along the Mississippi/Hudson Bay continental divide as it had nominally been before then. With an international border along a drainage divide, it would have strengthened the case for internal boundaries along watersheds. But with that nice straight northern border along a line of latitude, it becomes a lot easier for the straight line map drawers to continue doing so for state boundaries.
The ancient Hawaiian land division system (ahupua’a) was based on watersheds and geomorphological boundaries. Their communities were organized so that each one were responsible for the whole system from the land to the sea, allowing for a much greater management of resources and stewardship of living systems. There are some great illustrations depicting Hawaiian communities that slow and spread water for taro cultivation and other agriculture in the uplands (mauka), controlling sediment flow and allowing for healthy coastal aquaculture in the sea (makai). Their fishponds and aquaculture were some of the most advanced in the world. Of course these systems were dismantled by colonialism but there has been a resurgence of interest towards restoring these systems. I highly recommend doing some research on this if you’re interested in learning more. Hopefully it’s on Andrew’s radar and he can make a video about it some time. Absolute treasure trove of information and wisdom that has largely been neglected.
Looks like collective wisdom did not prevail in those time. Totally, discounted environment in measure to create a standard. American things
Another implication is that without geomorphic boundaries the reliance on the federal level on the topic of land/water management becomes more important. If federal regulations become to slack, the states can do little about it, or even try to outcompete others in their watershed. Therefore, the existence of the Nation as a whole is imperative, or otherwise the splintered states would be profoundly difficult to govern.
Make of the dependance on a central government what you will (I am in favor of such a system as long as the recourses allow it), but it gives little flexibility in times of unrest and instability, which might not just result in a splintered nation but a complete failure of the remaining political structures. I believe similar thoughts went into the borders of many colonial states and also when the USSR split up.
I so wish that people would realize that conservationnism, the wise and judicial use of resources, is a central tenant of Federalism and conservatism. Powell had many supporters in the Republican seats of the Congress during Grants term, but they were overruled by the factions in the east that just wanted to get the masses of poor immigants out of their towns. So, they opted for the fastest way to settle these areas after the civil war. They figured any problems that came up could be solved by future generations. They didn't even consider the damage that would be done, and the legal precedents that would be done in this rush to settle these lands.
The great thing about watershed conservation management is that by starting to practice what Powell tried to do then, the watershed environments can recover. It does not take a lot of government money, just local governments and individuals coordinating their efforts and activities up and down the watersheds for them to recover. Starting with a practice of for every 1 tree harvested, 3 trees of fruit or nut bearing varieties, like The American Chestnut tree or apple and pear trees, be planted. Yes, state and county lines are drawn, but coordination across those lines can, and must be made.
Wow way to start with “white man bad” cringe
Can’t we just without any of this white guilt bs .
Thank god the video isn't about those things lol.
Great stuff and great ideas! I like the term Watershed Democracy. Geomorphic is cool too. These It could be paired with Bioregionalism. Powell's idea would have changed things for sure, but I bet they laughed him off as a commie and that's way it wasn't adopted.
8:22
Funnyly enougth, that's exactly what was the practice in greek and Roman building.
Different placement of openings (like windows) with acknowledgment of the climate, weather and sun and moon.
We are forcing a suboptimal way of life in a place where different one would have been more beneficial.
"If you've ever wondered what evil is? It is stupidity on a large scale."
-Bill Mollison, 1983
Wow. Yes!
I wholeheartedly agree!
For a loooong time I've been puzzled and annoyed at how arbitrarily houses and buildings are laied out in developments. So often I see them built irrespective (or ignorant) of the natural path of the sun or the natural topicrafical layout of the land.
For example: Why are so many houses built with their AC unit (which need to dissipate HEAT for effective thermal exchange for cooling) on the South or West sides (the HOTTEST sides of the day/afternoon?! Of course, power companies don't mind when they profit on such inefficiency. But this is such a simple architectural/planning problem to avoid! Even as a kid, I understood how dumb this is and scowled at how we build cities.
THANK YOU for these well-illustrates videos shedding light on these (surprisingly ignored) common-sense land management strategies!
As a traveler for over 3 years, can confirm nearly all cities look the exact same
It's kind of lame how every new city I enter it already looks familiar, especially when they've been monopolized of local businesses
Poor CT… got wiped off the map!
And the thing is… You can still use a grid sometimes. You can use superblocks or diagonal grids to avoid many of these problems. Even making grids rectangular instead of square could help, both with runoff and allowing room for optimal housing orientation.
Are we just going to ignore that he added Jefferson?
At least I managed to put clean towels in my watershed today.
Thank you for this great topic and video. It must have been great to the US if it were divided as that. Here in the Philippines, what I know is during the Spanish Era, they divided towns by rivers and creek. They say towns begin and end on a bridge. It might not be 100% true to town divisions at the present but back then, it was. I know it maybe it is kind of opposite to "dividing territories by watershed" but I must say, both take nature in consideration.
these borders are ugly, no thx