Headwater streams are vital sources of clean water

The Mountain Times

Headwater streams are vital sources of clean water

By Barry J. Wicklow For nearly 15 years, I have been exploring the headwaters of a river near my home. The entire drainage area, encompassing all the streams, rainfall, and snowmelt that pass into a single river, is called a watershed. Within each watershed, a system of rivers and streams forms a network, in which small first-order streams (headwaters) meet to form second-order streams that converge to form third-order streams, and so on. While…