Playing Watershed Game at Prairie Ridge

We gathered on Feb. 17 to play The Watershed Game.

Such a simple sentence, but now it swirls with complicated and concerning undercurrents. “We” was a group of seven (ages 7 to 98!), who spent a pleasant hour together sharing, learning and laughing. The word “gather” alone now conjures feelings of wistful longing for the days when we could!

In a proposed series of articles on the League of Women Voters’ water resource management efforts in the county, this one was meant to be on The Watershed Game–a wonderful board game that introduces watershed concepts, issues and solutions in a fun, engaging way. Early in February, Prairie Ridge Activities Coordinator Suzy Newman offered to let us use their activity room for monthly opportunities for members of the general public to play the game, and Feb. 17 was our first.

Bonnie Cox and I had also been scheduled to play The Watershed Game with the Galena Rotary Club at their March 20 meeting before it sensibly fell victim to the wave of cancellations. We were looking forward to sharing with them the amazing project initiated by Galena Rotarian Joan Klaus. Having played and appreciated The Watershed Game in Galena, Joan brought it to Ghana (where she spends the winter) and shared it with Peace Corps workers, Lizzie Dakan and Alexis Ajello. Lizzie and Alexis were working on water and health issues in Ghana and were very excited about the game’s potential in Ghanaian villages–it turns out, Ghanaians particularly love board games! Before the virus sent them home, we were in the process of creating a Ghana-appropriate version of the game for their use.

The magic of this game is the easy way it lays out land use activities that negatively impact water quality, clearly indicates that all land uses have an impact (people play on land use “teams”–urban, residential, agricultural, forest), simply explains practices that can improve water quality, and inspires a collaborative approach to water resource management across all land uses. And, perhaps for some (myself included), the best part may be that we use chocolates for money to purchase beneficial land practices!

We gathered on Feb. 17 to play The Watershed Game. When the time comes for all of us to pick up the threads of our various prior pursuits, we look forward to gathering again... and hope you will join us. Until then, be well!