Working with Nature: An Ongoing Story of Wetland Regeneration

Working with Nature: An Ongoing Story of Wetland Regeneration paints a picture of process-based restoration as an act of reciprocity. Through hands-on efforts like planting native vegetation and constructing beaver dam analogs, Okanogan Highlands Alliance seeks to heal a degraded stream and wetland system – not by imposing control, but by listening, learning, and partnering with the ecosystem. Found near Chesaw, Washington in the Okanogan Highlands, Triple Creek is part of a creek-floodplain system that historically supported a complex, diverse wetland. A rain-on-snow event in the late 1990’s caused the creek to incise and straighten. The wetland drained, losing its ability to slow and store water and to support wetland species. The film explores how restoration is more than science – it’s a relationship. Woven through the physical labor are reflections on gratitude, responsibility, excitement, and what it means to repair harm done to living systems. As water slows down, spreads out, and wets the ground, native vegetation grows and flourishes, enabling diverse species, including beaver, to return to the wetland. By working with nature, we begin to regenerate the natural world that sustains us all.