Blog by Writer & Content Specialist Sarah Moore.
What does it really take to keep a watershed healthy? Find out and get inspired with a behind-the-scenes look at watershed stewardship this fall. The Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) is hosting free one-day workshops in October and November for you to spend the day outside, connect with your community, and gain practical skills and knowledge to help keep our watershed thriving.
Each workshop will include a unique blend of learning and experience:
Hands-on restoration work, such as planting willow trees or building beaver dam analogues,
Pollinator science training using iNaturalist,
Explorative learning from an Indigenous perspective, and
A discussion with an agricultural expert on innovation in southern Alberta.
These Authentic Watershed Experience (AWE) workshops will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 15, Tuesday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Nov. 1.
Tickets for the October 15, 2025 AWE event are available now.
Make a difference with collective action
The challenges facing the Oldman watershed, and the world more broadly, can feel overwhelming. It can be difficult and isolating as an individual to figure out how to take action on the issues you care about, or even simply to figure out where to start.
Learning about pollinator science.
Small changes can help — like spending time outside. Research shows that spending time in nature is good for your brain, with mental health benefits including lower levels of stress and decreases in anxiety and depression symptoms. A day outside is restorative, and where better to get these benefits than among the creeks, wetlands, and rangelands of our watershed? AWE workshop participants will get transportation to and the chance to explore private land or difficult-to-access public areas — in other words, places you may not otherwise get the opportunity to visit. Get out of the office for a day and experience the beauty of fall in southern Alberta, with golden trees and fields, blue skies, and crisp air.
We spend about 90% of our lives indoors, according to a 2018 study. When we change that and get outside, it fosters creativity and problem-solving skills. Similarly, place-based learning, in this case grounded in the Oldman watershed, helps create deeper connections with both a particular environment and one’s peers, often leading to better learning outcomes and improved cognitive skills compared to in a classroom. Just a 50-minute walk in nature led to better memory performance in one study.
Spending time in nature has lots of benefits. So too does finding a sense of community in a world that’s increasingly isolating. At an AWE workshop, we’re bringing together around 25 participants, plus agricultural experts and First Nations partners, who share a common value of wanting to see the Oldman watershed thrive. This is a chance to build social connections and meet like-minded people while working collaboratively to restore a piece of the watershed. Collective action on the ground, and experiential learning together, are powerful tools that can make a tangible difference for our watershed and communities.
There are lots of proven benefits to our long-term health by expanding our social circles, too. Strong connections and social support are correlated with maintaining a healthy weight, controlled blood sugars, and increased rates of survival from cancer and cardiovascular disease (read more about health outcomes here). And people with meaningful social connections tend to be happier and live longer.
Be a watershed hero
If this is your first foray into being a steward of the watershed, welcome! You’ll leave with not only a sense of accomplishment and new connections (though we think both of those are pretty AWEsome), but also a certificate outlining the skills and knowledge you gained from the day — making it a great professional development opportunity or experience for your resume.
Autumn is a beautiful season in southern Alberta. We hope you can join us to appreciate our watershed in this season, meet new friends, learn, and make a difference on the ground!
The OWC is pleased to offer AWE in the Oldman basin free of charge, thanks to support from the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, and the Calgary Foundation. Register for a workshop here.
Like all OWC’s blogs, this post was written by a real live human, without the use of generative AI.
