Discover Your Bioregion
Explore US bioregions prioritized by restoration urgency, biodiversity significance, and "Trimtab" potential for systemic change
Priority Bioregions
Systemic overallocation with demand far exceeding supply. The 'Law of the River' is obsolete.
Modernize water law and incentivize agricultural efficiency. Agriculture uses ~80% of the water.
Global biodiversity hotspot with Mediterranean climate. High endemism including Giant Sequoia.
Integrative fire and water management. Strategic forest thinning and natural water capture systems.
The 'River of Grass' - a vast, slow-moving sheet of water that has been drained and altered.
Comprehensive flow restoration. Continue Kissimmee River restoration and build water storage.
Fire-adapted ecosystem with >97% lost to logging and fire suppression. Home to Red-cockaded Woodpecker.
Reintroduction of prescribed fire. Overcoming social and regulatory barriers to controlled burning.
Greatest salmon-producing river system. Dams block migration and alter thermodynamics.
Strategic dam removal and modification. Fish passage technology and turbine upgrades.
One of the most biodiverse temperate broadleaf forests. Water towers for the Eastern Seaboard.
Restoring mined lands and connecting corridors. Protecting watersheds for urban water security.
Highly productive nurseries for marine life. Rapid wetland loss and hypoxia 'dead zone'.
Living shoreline projects and river diversion to rebuild land. Reduce agricultural runoff.
Transition zone between prairie and eastern forest. >99.9% lost to agriculture and development.
Reintroducing fire and oak regeneration. Quick, positive effects on pollinators.
Most decimated major ecosystem in North America with >99% loss. Incredibly deep, carbon-rich soils.
Strategic riparian corridor and prairie reconstruction. Connecting remaining fragments.
Cold desert characterized by sagebrush. Invasive cheatgrass fuels fires destroying native habitat.
Restoring sagebrush and controlling invasives. Protects entire biome for Sage-Grouse.
Keystone Watersheds
Strategic interventions in these watersheds create cascading ecological and societal benefits
Modernize Water Law & Incentivize Agricultural Efficiency. Ag uses ~80% of the water.
Prevents mandatory cuts to major cities (Phoenix, LA) and avoids collapse of agricultural economies.
Restores riparian zones, reverses salinization, allows experimental flood flows to rebuild Grand Canyon sandbars.
Strategic Perennialization. Convert marginal croplands to perennial crops & restore riparian buffers.
Protects a $2.8B Gulf fishery. Ensures clean drinking water for millions from St. Louis to New Orleans.
Dramatically reduces nitrogen/phosphorus pollution, restoring Gulf aquatic life. Increases carbon sequestration.
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) & Cropland Fallowing. Intentional flooding during wet years.
Prevents collapse of US fruit/vegetable/nut supply. Halts catastrophic infrastructure damage.
Recharges baseflows for Central Valley rivers, supporting salmon and aquatic life.
Comprehensive Flow Restoration. Continue Kissimmee River restoration and build water storage.
Provides freshwater for 9M Floridians. Reduces toxic algae blooms that harm tourism and health.
Revives ridge-and-slough landscape, restores wading bird populations (90% loss), protects estuaries.
Strategic Dam Removal & Modification. Continue Lower Snake River dam removal and fish passage tech.
Revives cultural and economic cornerstone for Native American tribes. Protects Southern Resident Orcas.
Restores world's greatest salmon runs, bringing ocean-derived nutrients deep into forest ecosystems.
Environmental Flows ('E-flows'). Manage dam releases to mimic natural high spring flows.
Secures water for agriculture and cities, avoiding costly legal battles over endangered species.
Critical for migratory birds (Sandhill Cranes, Whooping Cranes). Rejuvenates riparian cottonwood forests.
Water Efficiency in Metropolitan Atlanta. Massive investment in grey and green infrastructure.
Resolves decades of litigation between GA, AL, and FL. Secures iconic Apalachicola Bay oyster industry.
Maintains freshwater flows to estuary, preventing saltwater intrusion in one of North America's most productive estuaries.
Rio Grande 'Compact' Modernization & Riparian Restoration. Update water sharing agreements.
Secures vital water source for agriculture and cities (Ciudad Juarez/El Paso). Reduces transboundary tensions.
Prevents complete loss of aquatic habitat. Native Bosque acts as natural sponge, filtering water.
What is a "Trimtab"?
A trimtab is a small rudder on a ship's main rudder. Moving the trimtab creates pressure that turns the main rudder, which turns the entire ship. Buckminster Fuller used this as a metaphor for how small, strategic interventions can create massive systemic change.
In ecological restoration, trimtab interventions are high-leverage actions—like restoring prescribed fire regimes, modernizing water law, or creating riparian buffers—that trigger cascading benefits across entire bioregions and watersheds, affecting millions of people and countless species.