"Whooo-yaaaa! Got a BIG one on the line here. Get the net! Lemme get a look at 'im... There! Gawd! He's bigger than the boat. Cut the line! Cut the line!"

Cumulative Watershed Effects: Like the big fish that'll never be landed, CWEs strike fear and exhilaration into the hearts of watershed managers. If we keep at it, we might hook into it somewhere, and maybe even get a look at what we think we've hooked. But get it into the boat? No way.

This is another theme issue. I got an early contribution from Sari Sommarstrom about the mixed ownership watershed planning she is facilitating for the Scott River. A light went on in my head. "How about a theme issue on CWEs?" I asked for such contributions and got lots more than I expected. Now after spending a fair hunk of my Christmas vacation editing and laying out this opus, I'm feeling heartened about the subject. We're getting somewhere.

We seem to know better what CWEs are-see Leslie's contribution. Arguments about the identity of CWEs are waning, much to my relief (how about yours?). We are taking a crack at new types of disturbance analysis -see Andrea's contribution. And now a few brave communicators are taking on that old bugaboo; mixed-ownership watershed planning- see Sari's, Mark's and Steve's contributions.

The picture is coming clear and we're taking action. Watershed process is so complex I doubt we'll ever be satisfied with our CWE analysis and management. But we've seen our quarry. It is bigger than the boat, and not likely to be landed; but now the fishing's more fun.

The common denominator in our success with CWEs seems to boil down to communication; effective communication between scientists, between scientists and managers, between landowners, between all those who have a stake in watershed products, be they trees, crops, fish, wildlife habitats, or cool clean water.

Communication is what the WMC is about - facilitating it and making it effective. Let's keep this dialog about CWEs going. If you have something to add, fire it out and send it to me for the next issue. And keep fishing.