After a record-breaking summer of heat, drought, and fires, experts in the Columbia Basin are stressing the importance of water monitoring and watershed management to secure our water supplies. “Watersheds are complicated,” said Greg Utzig, a conservation ecologist based in the Columbia Basin. “There are lots of different pieces, and if we are going to understand how these watersheds react to climate disruption, we have to have a better understanding of how the various parts interact. This is where water monitoring comes in, by helping us understand how these systems work and how fast they are changing,”