This session brings together a fantastic group of conservationists and creatives to explore the theme of rivers, forests, the land, and the interconnected systems called “Flowscapes.” We were joined by Claire Zambuni, Alex Catallo, Michael Jones, Lucy Taylor, Sam Manning, and accompanied by Nick Andrew’s art. This was designed as a prequel event and collaborative space leading up to The River Summit and Festival.
Alex Catallo treated us to her poem “Threads of Vitality” which you can read below, or watch it in the recording.
Watch the Event Recording:
Threads of Vitality poem. Alex Catallo
I sat on a jetty, my feet casting shadows across a spring tide.
Moon, still invisible, yet like the sea, I feel her pull.
Mullet swims below in lazy eights, keeping a rhythm known, but not learned.
My gaze settles west over Brownsea.
Beyond, the Frome meets the Trent, fresh water mingles with salt.
We can trace their threads, portals between the deep sea and inland world.
Threads of vitality that infuse our islands, connecting urban to rural, land to sea, past to present.
Flowscapes do not heed county lines, conservation zones, or ownership.
Waters already carry resilience, a resistance to all we thought would last.
It reminds me of lines I have drawn in my own life, arbitrary rules I called necessary.
We shackle, abstract, dam the flow, stifle the living, reduce for measure, licence and sale.
Salmon, on her silver pilgrimage, crosses sea to spawn inland, following an ancient rhythm carried in her body.
A knowing, of how to be.
Even she, turned to research, data points, a photograph on Facebook.
Sterile. Quantified. Used.
I don’t remember how to be
What was sacred becomes profit and loss, a ‘who’ made an ‘it’.
In that moment we separate ourselves, self, -apart from wonder.
We are just one species, ignorant of our connection,
Denying we are of earth, with earth.
I feel the grief.
The loss of hallowed astonishment at it all.
What can nature remind me in this time of cracked earth and dry river bed?
Perhaps that we are a tiny part of something far greater than ourselves?
A living fabric of which we have always been a thread.
That adversity is part of being fully alive;
that uncertainty belongs to the whole lived experience;
that complexity is not to be solved, but awed.
The parched rivers await the first drop of rain, ready to trace their old ways.
What else might they teach us as their vitality returns?
More about our contributors:
Claire Zambuni: Founder of The River Summit, and initiatives such as Testing the Waters Consortium and The Future for Water Impact Awards, she has 14 years of environmental communications experience, helping bring unlikely allies together around shared goals.
Alex Catallo: Founder of Connect the Wild, a living network for recovery that democratises access to philanthropic lending, and TerraCirca, a space for people of all backgrounds and viewpoints to come together, and an invitation to be present in community and nature.
Nick Andrew: Nick has researched and made drawings on location of the sources, tributaries and confluences of the five rivers (Avon, Bourne, Ebble, Nadder and Wylye) which define and shape the geography of South Wiltshire, flowing towards and through Salisbury. Nick’s work will be on exhibit at the The River Summit on Friday 4th.
Sam Manning: A forest ecologist and environmental writer who has spent fifteen years on the front-line of forest conservation and restoration in the UK. He is currently writing a book called “Flowscape: the hidden connections between oceans and forests” which explores the lost inter connectivity between these two biomes, and how reuniting them in our policy, land management and culture could be the key to saving and restoring both.
Lucy Taylor: Founder of Dorset Flowscapes and of The Make Work Play Project, an organisation on a mission to use the power of play to help organisations unfurl their potential. She is a TEDx Speaker, facilitator, coach, strategist, storyteller, and more.
Michael Jones: The Co-Founder of AgroReGenerations (ARG), Michael has spent more than two decades working across community building, sustainability, technology, education and environmental initiatives in Europe, Africa and Asia. His work is grounded in the belief that rivers, soils, food systems, biodiversity, public health and rural livelihoods cannot be treated as separate issues.
Future for Water. Creating change through unexpected collaboration September 2026 – The Full Programme
6th August “Rivers & Flowscapes – from poetry to policy. A conversation with Change-makers.”
4th September: The River Summit
4th September: The Rivers of Film Festival
5th September: The River Summit Festival
And a follow-up event coming soon…
October 2026, details TBC: Keep an eye out for our next event in the series
Exploring what happened at The River Summit, how we can continue to weave stories of these landscapes together, and looking ahead to our ASP Gathering in The National Forest on Saturday the 14th of November!
ASP is pleased to be an event supporter
