Rehydrate California is teaming up with "Rehydrate the West"
for a Strategic Listening Tour.
for a Strategic Listening Tour.
In the wake of the multi-year drought and the 2025 Los Angeles fires, water cycle restoration has emerged as one of the most powerful strategies for resilience to fire, drought, flooding, and extreme heat. Public awareness--of small water cycles, the biotic pump, the soil sponge, and the living climate--is growing, and many wonderful projects are underway.
Rehydrate the West is a newly formed group to help build a coordinated, and place-specific, water movement across the North American West. Led by an interdisciplinary team of water researchers, land stewards, storytellers, facilitators, and media-makers connected to hundreds of restoration practitioners globally.
Rehydrate California, a partner in this tour, has been laying the groundwork for this since 2018, including the original speaking and listening tour, ongoing discussion groups, and many workshops.
Why California? California is a frontline climate landscape and one of the world’s most influential cultural and agricultural regions. California’s coastal position influences rain and water in many other regions, and it offers a powerful proving ground for regenerative water approaches that can ripple across the West and beyond.
What's Next?
Phase 1 | July 2026: A Strategic Listening Tour
Six intimate gatherings across California watersheds, bringing together land stewards, scientists, organizers, and community leaders to identify successful projects, reveal existing barriers (beliefs, policies, etc.), and strengthen relationships.
These are not conferences — they are working sessions where 20-30 people will come together to reflect on the current context of their region, and what specific interventions are most likely to move things forward.
Our team is not swooping in on large white wings to rescue California. We are a group of fellow travelers coming to listen to what’s happening on the ground, and better understand how our particular capabilities and knowledge can help.
Phase 2 | Winter 2026–Spring 2027: Watershed Activation Tour
A much larger multi-stop West Coast tour featuring workshops, storytelling, immersive education, and community events designed to activate watershed-scale restoration across the Western US.
Rehydrate the West is a newly formed group to help build a coordinated, and place-specific, water movement across the North American West. Led by an interdisciplinary team of water researchers, land stewards, storytellers, facilitators, and media-makers connected to hundreds of restoration practitioners globally.
Rehydrate California, a partner in this tour, has been laying the groundwork for this since 2018, including the original speaking and listening tour, ongoing discussion groups, and many workshops.
Why California? California is a frontline climate landscape and one of the world’s most influential cultural and agricultural regions. California’s coastal position influences rain and water in many other regions, and it offers a powerful proving ground for regenerative water approaches that can ripple across the West and beyond.
What's Next?
Phase 1 | July 2026: A Strategic Listening Tour
Six intimate gatherings across California watersheds, bringing together land stewards, scientists, organizers, and community leaders to identify successful projects, reveal existing barriers (beliefs, policies, etc.), and strengthen relationships.
These are not conferences — they are working sessions where 20-30 people will come together to reflect on the current context of their region, and what specific interventions are most likely to move things forward.
Our team is not swooping in on large white wings to rescue California. We are a group of fellow travelers coming to listen to what’s happening on the ground, and better understand how our particular capabilities and knowledge can help.
Phase 2 | Winter 2026–Spring 2027: Watershed Activation Tour
A much larger multi-stop West Coast tour featuring workshops, storytelling, immersive education, and community events designed to activate watershed-scale restoration across the Western US.
REHYDRATE THE WEST Steering Committee:
Didi Pershouse — Educator, writer, and co-founder of Rehydrate California. Founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative. Author of The Ecology of Care. Her facilitation manual Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function is in use in over 100 countries and she has taught over 2,000 students in her foundation course on the Soil Sponge and Living Climate. She organized and co-led the original 2018 "Can We Rehydrate California?" speaking and listening tour with Walter Jehne. She continues to teach, write, and host conversations on water and soil through The Wisdom Underground on Substack.
Alpha Lo — Physicist, water researcher, writer and podcaster. Runs the Climate Water Project (newsletter and podcast) and co-founded the Regenerative Water Alliance. Author of the forthcoming book Restore the Rain. His work connecting water cycle restoration to wildfire prevention has reached wide audiences, particularly following the 2025 LA fires.
Lua Fitzgerald — Storyteller, educator, artist, and creator of WE+LAND, a culture-building project that centers water as a lens for ecological, social, and spiritual literacy. Drawing on coyote mentoring, somatic practices, deep nature connection, and decolonial frameworks, WE+LAND weaves empirical and indigenous science with invitations to imagine regenerative futures. Her work anchors the cultural and narrative dimensions of the tour.
Sycamore Hess — Regenerative land practitioner, farm–to-table chef, group facilitator, and storyteller. Adjunct professor of Ecology of Food at the Culinary Institute of America. Works at the intersection of food systems, land stewardship, and narrative, bringing a social restoration lens to how gatherings are designed, fed, and facilitated. Leads event curation and the relational architecture of the tour.
Sean Corwin — Documentary cinematographer and founder of Two Owls Films, producing solutions-focused films on regeneration and restoration. Based in Olympia, Washington, Sean brings a focus on bioregional activation and the question of how storytelling and media can build watershed consciousness across political divides. Leads documentation and media strategy for the tour.
Alpha Lo — Physicist, water researcher, writer and podcaster. Runs the Climate Water Project (newsletter and podcast) and co-founded the Regenerative Water Alliance. Author of the forthcoming book Restore the Rain. His work connecting water cycle restoration to wildfire prevention has reached wide audiences, particularly following the 2025 LA fires.
Lua Fitzgerald — Storyteller, educator, artist, and creator of WE+LAND, a culture-building project that centers water as a lens for ecological, social, and spiritual literacy. Drawing on coyote mentoring, somatic practices, deep nature connection, and decolonial frameworks, WE+LAND weaves empirical and indigenous science with invitations to imagine regenerative futures. Her work anchors the cultural and narrative dimensions of the tour.
Sycamore Hess — Regenerative land practitioner, farm–to-table chef, group facilitator, and storyteller. Adjunct professor of Ecology of Food at the Culinary Institute of America. Works at the intersection of food systems, land stewardship, and narrative, bringing a social restoration lens to how gatherings are designed, fed, and facilitated. Leads event curation and the relational architecture of the tour.
Sean Corwin — Documentary cinematographer and founder of Two Owls Films, producing solutions-focused films on regeneration and restoration. Based in Olympia, Washington, Sean brings a focus on bioregional activation and the question of how storytelling and media can build watershed consciousness across political divides. Leads documentation and media strategy for the tour.