Core Principle 1: Watersheds are natural systems that we can work with

Natural Processes at Work in the Watershed (continued)

Once you better understand these processes, you can better appreciate how the watershed's ecological processes help sustain life. For example, a healthy watershed provides:

• food sources for animals and people
  

• temporary living quarters for migratory birds
  

• drinking water for people and other living organisms

• habitat for fish and other life

There are other benefits including:

• purifying air of contaminants our communities emit

• assimilating contaminants that enter the water

• transporting goods and people

Some natural processes or forces provide benefits to some parts of the watershed while impacting others—at least in the short term. For example, floods replenish soils in the flood plain, but people and other living organisms may be impacted.