Our Collective Why

                                          Why We Gather

                                                                                    What Calls Us Here

On July 31, 2026, on an organizer call, Nik invited us all to share our personal motivation for organizing the event. This is a synthesis of our answers—a collective why.

At the heart of this gathering is a desire to reconnect people with the living systems that sustain us, and with one another.

We are living at a time when the gap between ecological reality and human decision-making has become increasingly urgent. We see this in the ways we manage water, wetlands, forests, and landscapes across the West.

• California does not have a shortage of water; we have a shortage of wise, locally rooted, life-nurturing water management.
• We have much of the knowledge we need, but we need stronger relationships, leadership, and collective understanding to put that wisdom into practice.
• Water challenges are not only technical challenges—they are relationship challenges involving communities, ecosystems, and the future we want to create.

This unConference brings together many forms of knowledge: farmers and land stewards working in relationship with the Earth, people shaping policy and infrastructure, community organizers, and those seeking a deeper relationship with place.

We also recognize that policy and large-scale infrastructure change are important. We need people in positions of influence, with the ability to shape systems and allocate resources, to be part of this conversation. At the same time, lasting change depends on a broader cultural shift: a rising awareness and commitment among everyday people who care for their communities and landscapes.

The unConference is about creating the conditions for that shift—to build community among people with shared values, interests, and goals; to share knowledge freely; and to develop the collective intelligence needed for this moment.

• Building relationships among people working toward healthier watersheds and communities
• Sharing knowledge freely across disciplines, experiences, and perspectives
• Strengthening relationships between communities, land stewards, and decision-makers
• Growing our collective capacity to respond to this moment

Together, we can remember our place as participants in the living systems around us—not as extractors from the Earth, but as a species capable of relationship, stewardship, creativity, and care. Through tending, curiosity, play, dialogue, and collaboration, we can discover what each place is asking of us and carry that learning forward in ways unique to every community.

This gathering is a place for connection, learning, and the emergence of a more regenerative culture. Hotlum offers a powerful setting for this exploration. It is a place where people can come together to co-learn through experience what it means to tend a place on behalf of all the creatures who call it home.

The hope is that what is learned here can travel outward—to the places people tend, our neighborhoods, local streams, and our communities—creating many more places of care and restoration.

Learn more about the Mount Shasta Water unConference (September 11–13, 2026) —a gathering exploring water, watershed restoration, ecology, spirituality, and community. Event details are still emerging.  Join our email list here to receive updates.