Our first annual eco-theology Institute focused on forest defense; in 2011 it was rivers.  Inspired by the "Watershed University" approach to bioregional literacy, we looked at river stories (including baptisms!) in the Bible, and sketched out the contours of a place-based theology and identity.  Each participant explore their own watershed context in terms of spiritual, environmental, economic and political sustainability, using Brock Dolman's "basin of relations" framework.  And we looked at local examples of river and riparian habitat restoration as we gathered together near the banks of the Ventura River. It was a "full immersion" into the problems, prospects and theological symbols of our watersheds.