What is the purpose of the WLN?
The purpose of the Watershed Learning Network is to develop a diverse learning community where participants have the materials needed to learn about:
- Problem-solving for water quality and stormwater issues from an holistic, sustainable, and resilient perspectives
- Restoring and protecting the ecological health of urban watersheds
- Promoting resilience to climate change in urban watersheds
- Creating conditions and opportunities to improve the quality of life of residents of urban watersheds
- Facilitating equitable relationships between community stakeholders (public and private) that nurture cooperation, collaboration, and partnership for projects that blue, green, and grey infrastructure to address flooding
- Promoting city watershed programs devoted to sustainable solutions to water quality issues in urban environments
Who should use the WLN?
The Watershed Learning Network is for everyone, but we constructed these resources with three kinds of people in mind:
- People trying to find relatively quick answers to specific questions about urban watersheds or flooding in urban environments
- People interested in a more in-depth learning process about urban watersheds in order to more effectively engage in watershed governance in their own cities and towns
- People interested in initiating and leading a watershed group in their own watershed who are looking for materials to conduct community education programs
How Should You Use the WLN?
Please navigate through website at your own pace. If you are trying to answer any of the following questions, we have provided some suggestions as to how you might most effectively use the Watershed Learning Network.
- Find the "Learn" tab on the Main Menu.
- Hover over each of the broad topics in the drop-down menu to find out the specific questions that are answered in each of the modules
- Click on the relevant question and watch the narrated video and/or visit the additional resources within each of the modules
Are you trying to learn more about your watershed so that you can engage in local watershed governance?
- Watch the Introduction to the WLN video on this page to learn more about how to navigate the website
- Though not necessary, we recommend that you complete the modules in order
- Go to the "Learn" tab on the Main Menu
- Click on the first module and read about what you will learn in the module.
- Proceed through each of the questions listed in each module in the order in which they are listed on the website.
Are you interested in initiating and/or leading a Watershed Learning Network in your own town?
- Watch the Introduction to the WLN video on this page to learn more about how to navigate the website
- Click on the Information for Instructors tab on the Main Menu and proceed through each of the sub-pages in descending order
- Watch each of the learning modules
- Go to the “Learn” tab on the Main Menu
- Click on the first module and read about what you will learn in the module.
- Proceed through each of the questions listed in each module in the order in which they are listed on the website.
To visually represent the relationships that we will discuss in the WLN and how they are related to the human condition in urban watersheds, we have designed a model, pictured below.
We acknowledge that this model may not represent what is going on in your watershed; therefore, we encourage you to use this visual representation as a guide to see what we will discuss in each module, rather than a representation of every situation in urban watersheds.
