What is the Water Action Community?

More than 200 people — including Indigenous wisdom keepers, expert panelists from across the state of Oregon, and concerned citizens — came together in the fall of 2022 during a 6-part Water Solutions Summit to explore potential actions to promote efficient and beneficial use of the Rogue Valley’s water. Now, cohorts have formed, with the support of SOPA’s partner organization, Water League, to engage in actions based on the ideas that arose over the course of those summit conversations.  

Visit the Water Action Community webpage to learn more about these action cohorts. 

Explore the 6-part Water Solutions Summit
(held in the fall of 2022) 
Materials & Recordings
Presented in cooperation with local and regional co-sponsors


This Water Solutions Summit was dedicated to
Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim
“Grandma Aggie,” the Voice for Water

See Session Descriptions and Background Materials Below

Our vision for this summit is to be a space for community conversations in the spirit of an “environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence” in the Rogue Valley. Our intentions are to …

·   Increase our understanding of the Rogue Valley’s water sources and distribution systems;

·   Explore the challenges and adaptations needed to face future impacts to these systems;

·   Support awareness and appreciation for the living nature of water itself;

·   Develop holistic solutions that support all of the valley’s communities. 

Session Summaries & Background Materials

Session 1 – Wed., Sept. 14 – 6-8 pm (PT)
“Honoring Water”

An overview of our regional watersheds and water issues in the context of caring and sharing while respecting water’s role in the natural world. This session is an invitation to better understand the “big picture” complexities of our region’s water systems while examining ways to respect and protect water to ensure adequate and healthy sources for everyone. 

View Session 1 Recording
Background Material for Session 1

An Indigenous Perspective: Relationship with Water

1. 💧 “Sacredness of Water,” Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, at the Traditional Agriculture and Sustainable Living Conference hosted by the Northern New Mexico college, Oct 25, 2013. Video: 4:38 min

2. 💧 The “Territorial Acknowledgement” page of the Siskiyou Permaculture website  provides an understanding of the uniqueness of our region’s mountains and river basins and is a tribute to the original “peoples of the river.”

3. “Speaking to the Water,” Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining). Video on Facebook: 5:02 min


Click on category tabs to the left to view additional background materials 

Rights of Nature

1. 💧 “Returning the Gift,” the complete essay, by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, State University of New York.

This version includes the Skywoman origin story—highly recommended reading. 19 min read

Shortened version. 5 min read

2. Movement Rights is a women-led Bay Area organization dedicated to “aligning human law with the laws of the natural world” and has been working with tribes and communities since 2014, They define “Rights of Nature” like this:

Much like stolen people and women were once considered property, current law almost everywhere “sees” nature as human or corporate-owned property, legalizing environmental destruction and climate crisis. Rights of Nature is at once a culture shift based on traditional Indigenous knowledge, and a legal framework that recognizes ecosystems as holistic rights-bearing entities with legal standing in court. Now law in 23 countries, it has stopped fossil fuel projects, mining, dams, and more. Indigenous-led Rights of Nature is a critical part of legal and culture shift.

3. See more links regarding Rights of Nature here and here.


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Regional Water Systems Overview

1. “The Water Cycle” by Joseph Graff, Professor Emeritus Geology, Southern Oregon University. Recorded at Jefferson Center Salon Series, May 2022. Video: 5:15 min

2.  💧 “Rogue Valley Water Resources,” Julie Smitherman, Water Resources Coordinator, Medford Water Commission. Recorded at Jefferson Center Salon Series, May 2022. Video: 34:10 min

Check the Bear Creek and Little Butte Creek Basin up-to-date “teacup” report at US Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region webpage: www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/roguetea.html

Listen to the Q&A session with Julie Smitherman. Video: 12:33 min

3. Introduction by Shavon Haynes, Jackson County Watermaster. Recorded at Oregon Senator Jeff Golden’s Water Forum, Jan 5, 2022. Video: 5:21 min 


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Bonus Background Materials

1. “Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining) Responds in Prayer,” from the series Conversations with Grief and Water, 2017. Podcast: 24:14 min

2. “A Lake in Florida is Suing to Protect Itself,” by Elizabeth Kolbert, published in The New Yorker, April 18, 2022.

3. “For the Next 7 Generations,” with Grandmother, Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Taowhywee). Film: 1:24:25


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Session 2 – Wed., Sept. 28 – 6-8 pm (PT)
“Flow & Fairness, Pipes, Projects, and Possibilities”

A “deeper dive” into two watersheds, irrigation districts and other water features and sources of potable water in Jackson and Josephine Counties in Oregon. We will dive into potential ideas and programs that could be developed with assistance from many individuals with knowledge, experience and wisdom about the systems, costs, inequities, and quirks of our domestic and industrial water supplies. 

View Session 2 Recording
Background Material for Session 2

An Indigenous Perspective: Relationship with Water

1. 💧 Water protector Autumn Peltier from Wilkwemkoong First Nation in Manitoulin Island addresses the UN for the 2019 Global Landscapes Forum. Video 7:38 min

2. 💧 “Sacred Water Walks,” with Grandmother Josephine Mandamin. Video: 7:25 min

3. “Once-ignored Indigenous Knowledge of Nature Now Shaping Science,” by Mathew Holding Eagle III and Kirsti Marohn, Minnesota Public Radio Northstar News, July 27, 2022. Listen to the 4 minute broadcast, or read the article and see the photos.


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Rights of Nature

1. 💧 “Why Lakes and Rivers Should Have the Same Rights as Humans,” a TED talk by Kelsey Leonard, Ted 2019.

2. Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth from the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature

3. See more links regarding Rights of Nature here and here.


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Regional Water Systems Overview

1. 💧 “A Very Simplified Summary of Domestic and Commercial Water Sources for Cites in Jackson County,” by Water Solutions Summit Team, Sept 2022. View pdf

2.  Big Butte Spring Watershed, Medford Water Commission, “Water Resources” page. See map

3. 💧 “From the Forest to the TAP” brochure from Rogue River Watershed Council.

4. “Rogue Valley Water Status” public meeting on Zoom sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Rogue Valley, April 14, 2022. Three video clips:

5. An Issue: “Proposal Made for Makeover of Big Butte Springs Watershed: Principal source of Medford’s drinking water is in need of restoration,” by Morgan Rothborne, Medford Tribune, May 18, 2022

6. “Cities Propose Joint Water Rights Plan” by Tony Boom, Medford Tribune, March 14, 2022.

7. “Oregon’s 100 Year Water Vision.” See the 2.5 minute video on this page that describes the origin, purpose, and early progress of Oregon’s 100 Year Water Vision. Video: 2:30 min   For a short summary of the “Call to Action,” PDF (5 pages)

8. Oregon 2017 Integrated Water Resources Strategy, The “placemat” version that gives a concise picture of the 190 page document.


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Bonus Background Materials

  1. H2O The Molecule that Made Us. 3 Episodes on PBS

2. Sing the Water Song. Video 2:41 min


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Session 3 – Wed., Oct. 12 – 6-8 pm (PT)
“Channeling Better Water Outcomes for Agriculture”

A look at how agriculture in our region is impacted by historic drought and the resulting low snowpack, irrigation allocations, water rights, well and reservoir limitations, and other factors. This session will look at the factors above – which are already affecting farming practices in the valley – and the need for assistance to farmers for water-saving devices, land and crop management education, and investments in regenerative agriculture systems. 

View Session 3 Recording
Background Material for Session 3

An Indigenous Perspective: Historical

1. 💧 “Seep,” a story from the Grand Canyon on two pages from an unidentified old book: View PDF

2. “Revisiting the Rogue River Wars: A photographer’s journey and a tribal perspective.” A 2-hour recording of an online presentation sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society, with David Harrelson, Cultural Resources Department Manager for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and Rich Bergeman, a Corvallis photographer, whose most recent work is The Land Remembers: Photographs Inspired by the Rogue River Wars of Southern Oregon, 1851–56.


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Rights of Nature

1. 💧 Rights of Nature: A global movement, trailer for full-length film. Video 1 min

  • Rights of Nature: A global movement, the full film. Video 58 mins

2. What are the Rights of Nature?” Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature webpage.

3. See more links regarding Rights of Nature here and here.


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Agricultural Water Challenges

1. 💧 “Resources Run Dry,” by Buffy Pollock, Mail Tribune, Oct 3, 2021. Article and Video 2:56 min on the experience of Southern Oregon small farmers dealing with drought.

2.  💧 “Ripple Effect: Water enforcement and illegal marijuana grows,” by Tyler Myerly, KTVL News at 10, Mar 9, 2022. Video 2:13 min interview with Christopher Hall.

3. “Drought Listening Session,” summary of notes from Zoom chat sponsored by Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service, Jan 20, 2022. View PDF

4. Visit the Oregon Water Resources Department website for links to official state  policy and information regarding water, including:

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Agricultural Water Solutions

1. 💧 “Planting the Rain to Grow Abundance,” Ted Talk by Brad Lancaster Video 18 min. See his website at Rainwater Harvesting.

2. New Dryland Farming Strategies for the Pacific Northwest,” by Don Tipping, Siskiyou Seeds Blog post, March 8, 2022. 

3. “Good News on Heritage Grains from Local Farms,” by Chris Hardy, Hardy Seeds, blog post on the SOPA “Changing the Dream” blog, July 23, 2022.

4. “Enabling Regenerative Agriculture: Getting Paid for Improving Soil Health,”  A complete report (including video recordings) from a 2-day Symposium sponsored by Cultivate Oregon in 2020. The goal: to educate farmers, orchardists, vintners, ranchers, landowners, managers, philanthropists, decision-makers, state agency personnel, and others on how farmers can get financial rewards for producing healthy soil. 


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Bonus Materials

1. “Homestead Paradise: got barren land, boosted it at a profit,” The inspiring story of how a young couple adopted a piece of degraded farmland in Wisconsin and working with Nature over time, nurtured it into the thriving and profitable. Video 53 min. See their website at New Forest Farm.

2. “Here’s How America Uses its Land,” by Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby, Bloomberg US edition, July 18, 2013. Scroll slowly down this page to reveal a curious series of land use maps of the US. 


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Session 4 – Wed., Oct. 26 – 6-8 pm (PT)
“Veins of the Valley: Wetlands & Waterways”

An inquiry into our stewardship of the region’s water flowing from here to the ocean.  We’ll hear how wetlands and waterways are impacted by population growth, increased roadways, dams and other encumbrances. These disruptions to the clean flow of water downstream contributes to the decimation of wildlife and the collapse of recreational opportunities resulting in impacts to the economy and the quality of life in the Rogue Valley. 

View Session 4 Recording
Background Material for Session 4

An Indigenous Perspective: Historical

1. “Water Wisdom: The Indigenous Scientists Walking in Two Worlds,” by Jane Palmer, Eos: Science News by AGU (American Geophysical Union), Nov 2021. Article

2. 💧 “Local places with ‘squaw’ slur get new names,” by Vickie Aldous, Medford Tribune, Sep 18, 2022. Article

This passage from the Orion online magazine describes the article and audio recording that follows:

“In the English language, we reserve the pronouns of personhood for humans—”he,” “she,” “they”—and not for animals, plants, and landscapes. Yet in many of America’s indigenous languages, such barriers are dissolved, and so, too, is the sense of distance between human and nonhuman. Orion editor Helen Whybrow speaks with Robin Wall Kimmerer, a speaker of Potawatomi and an enrolled member in the Citizen Band Potawatomi, about how to find a language that affirms our kinship with the natural world.” 

3. 💧 “Speaking of Nature: Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, published in Orion Magazine, March/April 2017 issue. Article

4. “Robin Wall Kimmerer on a language of animacy,” an interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Audio: 20 min


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Rights of Nature

Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands: https://www.rightsofwetlands.org/ 

  • Global Wetland Outlook, Special Edition 2021, Downloadable 56 page document published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.


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Water Challenges and Solutions

1. 💧 “Protected: A Wild & Scenic River Portrait” – Go to the Freshwaters Illustrated website and scroll down to locate 3 “Freshwater Films” – watch the 12 minute video called “Protected: A Wild & Scenic River Portrait.” Learn about the Wild & Scenic River program and “ride” down the Rogue and other rivers that are part of the 50 protected rivers in Oregon, part of 208 in the nation. Video: 12 min

2. “Sponge Cities: Visionary, Nature-Based Urban Design from China,” video made by Kongian Yu with an introduction by J.P. Harpignies, 2022 Bioneers Conference. Kongian Yu’s nature-based solutions are being implemented in over 200 cities in China and beyond. Video: 16 min 

3. “Roadway Runoff Known to Kill Coho Salmon also Affects Steelhead, Chinook Salmon: Simple filtration columns along roads can remove toxic substances and save fish,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Fisheries, August 24, 2022. Article


4. “Wetland Transformation in Southern Oregon: ODOT partners with Klamath Tribes to turn a highway project into a wetlands restoration,” by Kacey Davey, Community Affairs Coordinator at the  Oregon Department of Transportation,.July 24, 2021. Article


5. Visit Bear Creek Restoration Initiative website to learn how local volunteers are working to restore Bear Creek. 

6. “Riparian Landscape Management,” Riverkeepers, Blog post, Aug 2, 2022 

7. Visit “Waterways and Wetlands” Department of State Lands (DSL) webpage to find some interesting numbers (Oregon has  1.4 million acres of wetlands, over 100,000 miles of rivers and streams, etc). Use the “expand” feature to read about the importance and status of Oregon’s wetlands.


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Bonus Materials

Inter-being,” by Thich Nhat Hanh. Video: 3 min


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Session 5 – Wed., Nov. 9 – 6-8 pm (PT)
“The Catch Basin: A Flood of Issues & Possibilities”

Averting mistakes and disasters – floods, fires, market pressures and more. Drought has an impact on our forests, flood prevention, and storm run-off. The potential for treated effluent as irrigation source for parks, roadways, golf courses, etc.; real estate development impacts; and the implementation of water catchment and other earth-friendly practices will be discussed. 

View Session 5 Recording
Background Material for Session 5

An Indigenous Perspective

1. 💧 “Solving the climate crisis requires traditional ecological knowledge,” by Jenine Pfeiffer, Yes magazine article, Oct 6, 2022. Article

2. “Sacrifice Zones,” Dakota Water Wars Video Series film #10. Video: 7 min

3. ⭐️ “Woman Stands Shining (Pat McCabe) on Humanity’s Homecoming,” listen to the Podcast: 1 hr 22.5 min or read the Episode Transcript, Sept 17, 2021


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Rights of Nature

💧 The Rights of Nature, TEDxJacksonville,” by Patricia Siemen, Dominican Sister, civil attorney and Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence (CEJ) Video: 16 min.


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Water Challenges

1. 💧 “Droughts and Dry Times in Southwest Oregon,” Larry O’Neill, Associate Professor OSU & State Climatologist, excerpt from Ashland Climate Collaborative “Drought+H2O=Conservation” event, Sept 21, 2022. Video: 22 min.

2. “A Watery Focus on Climate Projections for the Rogue Valley,” by Alan Journet, Ph.D., Cofacilitator SOCAN, 2022. Video: 27 min.

3. “California drought pits farmers vs. cities. But neither is the biggest water victim,” by Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times article, Oct 3, 2022. Article

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Water Solutions

1. 💧 ”Water is Earth’s Blood – The Old and New Water Paradigms to Restore Our Planet’s Health,” by Zach Weiss, Water Stories. Video: 17 min.

2. “City of Gresham Waste Water Treatment Plant,” Energy Trust of Oregon. Scroll down page to see Video: 2.5 min.

3. “Fog catchers: improving Mexico’s climate resilience using traditional knowledge,” by Adaptation Fund, in Climate Home News, June 24, 2022. 

4. “Intro to Lomakatsi and the Role of Fire in Our Ecosystems,” June 4, 2019. Video: 5 min.

5. “Oregon Water Justice Report,” 66 page report from Oregon Environmental Council. Scroll down website to find report.

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Bonus Materials

1. “The Story of Bottled Water: How ‘manufactured demand’ pushes what we don’t need and destroys what we need most,” with Annie Leonard. Video: 8 min.

2. “Shareable: People-powered solutions for the common good” website. The list: “How to share: 300 guides to help your community thrive” 


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Session 6 – Saturday, Nov. 12 from 9 am to 3 pm
“Where do we go from here?”

THANK YOU TO OUR CO-SPONSORS: