US Commissioner Rich Moy shares how his childhood around water in the American West shaped his inspiration to pursue a career protecting boundary waters.

"I’m Rich Moy, I’m a US commissioner on the International Joint Commission and I’m from Helena, Montana. The name of my water body is Marshall Creek. Marshall Creek ran through the ranch that I was raised on as a child. That little creek provided all the water for hay production, for the stock, for our horses. It had a great little fishery. It became the life blood of our little ranch. That had instilled in me the importance of water with the life blood of the ranch and I find out that water is the life blood of the land.

So I had devoted my entire life studying water and managing water in the state of Montana. After doing that 35 years, I had the luxury to join the International Joint Commission where I was able to expand my understanding of water and the management of water to the Great Lakes as well as all the other trans boundary basins that we share between the Unites States and Canada.

The real challenge is how do you satisfy existing water uses on the land, consider what the future water needs that you need water for future uses, and at the same time protect rivers, streams, and lakes for water quality and fish and wildlife. What they’ve been finding out is we need to look at the governance structure, we need to look at how we can involve stakeholders, local people, First Nations, Native Americans. Working with governments in a partnership to figure out the best way to solve water problems along our boundary between the United States and Canada."