By Andrew Berry
For World Water Week, August 23 – 27, 2026, we are celebrating wetlands and the partnerships that make their restoration possible. Through the James B. Beam Natural Water Sanctuary Alliance, Bernheim and Suntory Global Spirits are now in our eighth year of working together to support healthier streams and watersheds in Long Lick Creek and Wilson Creek.
Supporting Biodiversity and Improving Water Quality
Across Bernheim, water moves from forested ridges into ephemeral headwater streams, seeps, springs, and wetlands before eventually flowing beyond our borders through perennial streams and rivers. Together, these habitats form an interconnected system that supports biodiversity, protects water quality, moderates flooding, and provides clean water to communities downstream.
Over the past decade, Bernheim has added more than 25 new wetlands and aquatic habitats, ranging from the 10-acre Wilson Wetlands complex to smaller seasonal and ephemeral wetlands such as Salamander Wetlands, Tin Man Wetlands, and the Springhouse Wetlands. Together, these projects have created unique shallow-water habitats across upland forests, bottomland floodplains, and fields.
Slowing Runoff and Reconnecting Streams with Floodplains
At Bernheim, wetland restoration is about more than creating pools of water. Our approach emphasizes process-based restoration that works with hydrology and organic materials to give nature the opportunity to continue improving the resource over time. That means slowing runoff, reconnecting streams with floodplains, facilitating groundwater recharge, establishing native vegetation, and working with ecosystem engineers like beavers to create self-sustaining wetlands.
Providing Habitat for Wildlife
The result is water distributed across the landscape in many different forms and seasons. These habitats provide essential breeding areas for amphibians such as spotted salamanders and foraging habitat for bats, including the federally endangered northern long-eared bat and Indiana bat. Wetlands also support abundant aquatic insects that feed bats and birds, while providing water and habitat for dragonflies, butterflies, migratory birds, waterfowl, shorebirds, mammals, and countless other species.
Building Heathier, More Resilient Aquatic Systems Together
None of this work happens alone. Bernheim’s staff, members, supporters, volunteers, and conservation partners make it possible to restore wetlands, protect headwaters, and work with nature to build healthier, more resilient aquatic systems. During World Water Week, and throughout the year, let us celebrate the progress Bernheim has made in restoring and protecting our watersheds from forested ridgelines to the communities and ecosystems downstream. With the continued support of our partners, and a little help from nature’s ecosystem engineers, the beavers, perhaps the best is yet to come.
