Healthy Watersheds Watersheds are vital to ecosystem health.
Watersheds absorb rain and recharge underground aquifers.
They serve as habitat for thousands of species of fish, wildlife, and rare plants. They dissipate floods across floodplains, increasing soil fertility and minimizing damage to lives, property, and streams. Downstream communities depend on the clean water that flows from watersheds for consumption, food production, agricultural development, employment, power generation, and recreation. Most watersheds on our Nation's forests and grasslands are healthy, supporting a variety of thriving ecosystems. In some areas, however, watersheds are deteriorating at alarming rates.