At TERC, the purpose of our interdisciplinary research is clear: to understand how watersheds function so we can help guide the most effective actions to protect and restore them. By studying lakes, forests, streams, and atmospheric processes as interconnected systems, we lay the scientific foundation for moving from understanding to implementation.
Our goal is not research for its own sake. It is to provide land managers, resource agencies, and policy advisors with credible, data-driven recommendations about which interventions will have the greatest impact. Whether the challenge is declining water clarity, invasive species, wildfire risk, nutrient loading, or climate-driven change, effective solutions depend on knowing how the system works.
This science-to-action approach ensures that limited funding for mitigation and restoration is invested wisely. By identifying the processes that matter most and the strategies that will produce measurable improvements, we help direct resources toward actions that deliver the greatest ecological and community benefit.