Water Stories Workshops

Take action. Learn through experience. Build together. Get dirty.

Water Stories is a movement based in action.

Learn to trust your intuition.

Our goal is to hold space for people to practice creating positive interventions on the land. Water Stories Workshops offer a deep dive into the practical aspects of reshaping landscapes to benefit local ecology.

Experience the transition from design to implementation
Assess soil composition and learn how it continually influences the installation process
Work as a team and practice communicating effectively on a job site
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Gain practical experience.

Every workshop is a unique opportunity.

Our objective with each workshop is to offer participants a diverse range of hands-on, educational experiences. Installing substantial earthworks projects, like ponds, requires a significant amount of time. However, thanks to the generosity of our workshop hosts, we are able to provide a wide array of workshop styles, durations, and locations. Each workshop presents distinctive opportunities for learning, tackling challenges, and forging connections.

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  • A low consequence place to learn
  • Connect with the Water Stories Community and meet other students
  • Hands-on experience with various tools and possibly heavy equipment
  • Practice interpreting client goals and incorporating them into a functional land design

Testimonials

We have worked with thousands of amazing people

“The entire weekend was a stellar experience that far exceeded all expectations! Thank you so much for your hard work to make it all happen so beautifully”

Oja Robinson

“I was so surprised at how much more I learned even after taking the course, it’s helped me to see that I have a lot more to learn!! I’m so unbelievably grateful we came, the content was incredibly helpful and networking with others around the world was an unforeseen benefit!!”

Janell Howard

“Everything went so well, thank you very much”

Diana Lightman

“Great content and delivery. Tremendous opportunity to connect with such amazing people!”

Dan Howard

“It really was a remarkable and essential event. If it can be made a part of your WS training for more folks, I think it would be profoundly helpful…Otherwise, I am a completely different person because of this training … Zach and Megan's energy, commitment, and patience...wow. Thank you for investing so much time and effort in our learning!!!!!!”

Kate Kauffman

Tuscany, Italy 2022

Restoring the Tuscan Watershed

A four day workshop was held at Tenuta di Paganico in Tuscany, Italy. Our goal was to uncover a path forward for the regeneration of fire prone landscapes and restore water security to Tuscany and beyond. This workshop was made possible by the Tuscan Environmental Foundation. Content was organized by Zach Weiss from Elemental Ecosystems (USA) and Lorenzo Costa, from Azienda Agricola La Scoscesa, Tuscany (Italy).

Introduce the principles of watershed restoration and how to design the management of water
Development of a strategic plan for the restoration of the Tuscan hydrographic basin, a regional level
Increase participants' understanding of the water cycle by creating confidence in the adoption of truly sustainable actions.

California, USA 2023

The Waterman of India in California

Following the 2023 UN Water Conference, Dr. Rajendra Singh joined us in California to share his decades of experience reviving rivers and healing watersheds. The day long workshops were held at the beautiful Occidental Arts & Ecology Center (OAEC) and a private residence in Healdsburg, CA.

On Friday, we screened the award winning film “Reviving Rivers” followed by a discussion on how to revitalize and heal landscapes through community-driven decentralized water retention with Dr. Rajendra Singh.
On Saturday, we learned how the land and our minds can be reshaped to facilitate healing and abundance with Dr. Rajendra Singh. We discovered practical solutions and techniques that have been successfully implemented across India to help promote positive ecological and social change.
On Sunday, we spent the day reading the land, interpreting observations, building models, and installing water retention and erosion mitigation interventions with Zach Weiss.