Healthy Watersheds Through Healthy Forests

Forested watersheds play a vital role in storing and purifying water for downstream consumers, and provide two-thirds of the drinking water in the U.S. Yet most consumers do not understand how they get the clean water they enjoy every day. 

The Healthy Watersheds through Healthy Forests Initiative seeks to compensate forest owners for the ecosystem services provided by forests, while at the same time educate and encourage water consumers to value the link between clean water and forested watersheds.

This collaborative approach includes funding pilot projects to validate the payment for watershed services concept, working with water utilities to help them better understand watershed conservation benefits, and developing new sources of revenue and technical support for payments for watershed service projects.