Trace water flow from mountain source to ocean outlet. Explore 10 major US watersheds, their fish species, and water quality.
Pollution, agricultural runoff, and urban stormwater travel through entire watersheds. A factory upstream in Ohio can affect catfish habitat in Mississippi. Understanding your watershed means understanding what's in your water.
Salmon, steelhead, and shad use watershed river networks as migration corridors. Dams fragment these highways. Knowing your watershed's connectivity tells you which species can -- and can't -- reach your water.
Fish stocking programs operate at the watershed level. Trout stocked in one tributary can migrate throughout the basin. Watershed boundaries are genetic boundaries for many native species.
Every dollar spent on fishing licenses funds watershed-scale conservation. Habitat restoration upstream improves fishing downstream. Anglers are the largest private funders of watershed protection in the US.
Once an invasive species enters a watershed, it can spread to every connected waterway. Asian carp in the Mississippi basin, snakeheads in the Chesapeake -- watershed connectivity determines invasion risk.
Healthy watersheds with intact riparian zones buffer against warming temperatures. Connected watersheds give cold-water species like trout escape routes to higher, cooler tributaries as temperatures rise.