What is a Watershed?
A watershed is any area that drains water to a common point (such as the Clark Fork River). A watershed can be thought of as a large funnel that collects rainfall, snowmelt, and surface and groundwater flows. Watersheds can be small- any small creek is part of a small watershed- and very large- the Clark Fork, a large watershed itself, is only a segment of the Columbia River watershed, which itself is only a segment of the Pacific Ocean watershed. Watersheds are bounded by divides, or high points in the topography that separate watersheds. In North America, the most well-known drainage divide is the Continental Divide. Rain falling on the west side of the Continental Divide flows to the Pacific Ocean, while rain falling on the east side flows to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Watersheds are important to everyone, because we all live in a watershed, and because watersheds control water flows.
