Few docks have the awe-inspiring view of Puget Sound's Nisqually Reach Nature Center.

On a clear day, you can see the Nisqually River watershed from its source to the Sound — from the glittering glaciers of Mount Rainier National Park, where the Nisqually River wells up, to the salty mudflats of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, where it enters the sea.

The river runs nearly 80 miles; the watershed drains nearly 700 square miles of land. The water passes by the city of Yelm, the "Pride of the Prairie," flows along the lands of the Nisqually Tribe, and runs through the Army's Fort Lewis.

What is even more eye-opening is this: a watershed-wide web of conservation. Divergent demands in watersheds are often a source of conflict — look no further than Klamath Basin. Yet here, because of the Nisqually River Council, they have been a source for cooperation.

All sorts of different constituencies have a seat on the council: wildlife managers and power companies, and representatives from cities, counties and the Nisqually Tribe. They meet with the common goal of conservation, and find ways to resolve potentially divisive issues like land use and water allocation.

As a result of the council and its web of conservation, people throughout the watershed are working together, planning together, growing together.

The spirit and energy of this community-based alliance and hundreds of others like it across the country embody the future of conservation in America.

In recent decades, we have addressed, and overcome, many of the pronounced environmental problems we faced in the 1960s and 1970s — the smog that enveloped our cities like a dirty blanket and the rivers that were so polluted that one even caught fire. Today, populations of once-threatened raptors like the peregrine falcon and the bald eagle are recovering. Landmark laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act have generated successes. But, there are limits to what these laws can do. They can reduce harm to the environment, but they cannot compel creativity and enthusiasm in protecting watersheds or restoring wildlife.

We need a new tool to continue our progress in the 21st century. We need an approach based on the idea that successful conservation can spring from a partnership between the government and the people. The partnerships should draw from local creativity and local knowledge, and should encourage stewardship across entire ecosystems. We need the Nisqually River Council.

To support local efforts like the council, President Bush signed an executive order last year directing the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense departments, and the Environmental Protection Agency, to promote cooperative conservation by actively working in partnership with states, local communities, businesses, nonprofit organizations and private citizens. The goal of the order is to help empower the American people to take conservation into their own hands.

The order also called on the White House Council on Environmental Quality to convene a "Conference on Cooperative Conservation" this year. The three-day conference, taking place in St. Louis this week, is providing a forum for diverse groups of community and business leaders and federal, state, tribal and local government officials to exchange information and identify innovative approaches that achieve on-the-ground results.

The goal of the conference is to energize citizen-conservationists and to give local communities, organizations and landowners the tools they need to effectively cooperate on conservation projects. Ultimately, the people who are best able to take care of the land are those who live on the land, work on the land, and love the land. They have the knowledge, skills and motivation to take care of the land better than anyone. We need to empower them.

Americans love the natural world. We love glittering glaciers and rolling seas. We want our children and grandchildren to inherit a land cleaner and healthier than the one we inherited. Working together, we can make this a reality.