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Creating a watershed management plan
is a complicated and time-consuming task! It takes months
of planning and research but the effort is well worth it.
A watershed management plan is a living document, a vision
for protecting and restoring your watershed and a plan for
carrying it out. The process of watershed planning can have
benefits beyond the road map that is created-it can help build
a sense of community by bringing together people with different
backgrounds and perspectives to define the future of their
area, by helping identify the community's cultural, historical,
and natural resources, and by educating the public about their
watershed and the issues it faces.
Because watershed management planning is so complicated and
time consuming, we want to make as easy as possible for groups
interested in doing this work to find the resources they need.
Thankfully, there is a lot of good information that already
exists! We have organized materials on watershed management
into categories for each step of the planning process. This
listing is not a complete inventory, but instead a list of
a few of the best resources for each category. Some of this
information is available for free and some for a fee, and
some of it is available on the web while others are available
only in print. In order to direct you to the materials that
best suit your needs, we have noted costs where applicable
and the type of media available. We also have a listing of
watershed management planning manuals
that cover the entire process of planning.
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Assessing Your Watershed
Although there
is no one correct place to begin the process of watershed
management planning, you will probably want to assess your
watershed's natural, cultural and historical resources early
on. We have highlighted several useful guides on how to
conduct a watershed assessment as well as some examples
of actual watershed assessments.
Bringing
Your Community Together
A key part of
creating a watershed management plan is getting the key
stakeholders involved in the process. Without the input
and support of key community representatives even the best
watershed management plan is doomed to failure. Here are
some publications that will aid you in identifying key community
stakeholders and in bringing them into the planning process.
Facilitating a Community Vision--Consensus
Building
Bringing your
stakeholders together may seem tough, but that is just where
the battle begins (hopefully not literally)! Managing strong
personalities with different viewpoints and possibly conflicting
interests is a challenge! Many organizations hire professional
facilitators for this phase of their work, but some decide
to make the effort themselves. Regardless which route you
choose, it is good to have a working knowledge of the arts
of facilitation and consensus building. Listed below are
some resources on these subjects that are specifically aimed
at the environmental community.
Leading
and Communicating
- (Free on the web (HTML)) - Put out by Know Your Watershed,
a web page on how to lead, coordinate, communicate and
build consensus.
Managing
Conflict - (Free on the web (HTML)) - Also by Know
Your Watershed, a guide to conflict resolution.
Community
Culture and the Environment: Guide to Understanding a
Sense of Place (Free printed version to order) - This
guide will aid in community consnsus building by helping
helping assess the values and beliefs your community holds
related to the environment.
Planning
for the Future: A Handbook on Community Visioning
(Free on the web (PDF)) - This handbook by the Center
for Rural Pennsylvania provides basic information on creating
a vision for your community's future and includes updated
contact information on successful visioning projects in
Pennsylvania. Useful for any community.
Bridge
Builder: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships ($15.00
for printed version) - A handbook to make facilitation
of watershed planning and management easier. Contains
exercises, letter templates, checklists, and other sources
of useful information and examples. Developed to assist
local watershed partnerships addressing issues affecting
water quality.
Fundraising--Financing Your
Work
No one likes
to think about it, but fundraising is a crucial part of
watershed management planning. Lack of money is often a
barrier to accomplishing well thought-out goals. One can
spend the majority of their time researching and writing
grants or fundraising for projects through other methods.
Luckily, because this is such an important part of watershed
work, there are a lot of resources out there. If you are
working in the Potomac Basin, ICPRB lists grants
currently available in this region as well as year-round
funding sources. Additionally, there are other sources
of information including:
Developing Measurable Indicators
Watershed plans always set goals and outcomes for their
work, however the goals established often make it difficult
to measure progress and are difficult to communicate to
the public. For example, a goal that is difficult to measure
could be "To return X river to a healthy condition."
It is difficult to know when you have a "healthy condition".
A goal that is difficult to communicate to the public is
"To reduce the amount of nitrates and nitrites in the
river to x parts per million." More and more groups
are considering what makes a good indicator of progress
in setting their goals and creating their watershed plan.
Below are some examples of environmental indicator reports
that have been assembled and how to put them together.
How
to Calculate Environmental Indicators (Free on the
web(HTML)) - A "how-to" manual for other regions
wishing to create environmental indicators for their own
community. This manual contains detailed instructions
on how to replicate for your region the environmental
indicators found in the 2003 Silicon Valley Environmental
Index.
2003
Silicon Valley Environmental Index (Free on the web
(PDF)) - The "environmental indicators" in this
report display the direction in which a given environmental
condition, such as water use or air quality, in the Silicon
Valley is currently heading. These indicators can be a
tool for better understanding environmental quality and
tracking changes over time.
1998
Sustainable Seattle Indicators of Sustainable Community
Report ($18.00 for printed version) - The Indicators
of Sustainable Community are the product of a creative
community dialogue about their common future. The indicators,
taken together, provide Seattle with a snapshot of their
community.
Maryland
Environmental Indicators (Free on the web(PDF)) -
Maryland has developed over 50 indicators that are organized
into three broad categories: public health, ecosystem
health, and interface with the public. These indicators
provide a snapshot of the status of critical environmental
and public health issues that Marylanders face today.
Anacostia
Watershed Restoration Indicators and Targets for the Period
of 2001-2010 (Free on the web (PDF)) - This report
was developed for the Anacostia Watershed; a sub-watershed
of the Potomac River that runs through Washington, D.C..
Creating and Implementing Your
Plan
This is the fun part! You have already successfully assessed
your watershed, brought your stakeholders together, and
developed a vision of the future of your watershed or community.
Now all you have to do is write it down! Yes, it sounds
simple, but things are always more complex than the sound.
To aid you in the process of writing your watershed management
plan, we have compiled some publications that walk you through
the process as well as some sample documents of existing
watershed plans inside and outside of the Potomac Basin.
Monitoring--Measuring Your Outcomes
Traditionally,
monitoring has meant water quality monitoring. In creating
and designing your monitoring protocols, half of the battle
is in choosing the methods that are appropriate for your
region and needs. We have listed below the documentation
for the more widely used protocols, including a few that
are specific to this region.
USDA/NRCS
National Handbook of Water Quality Monitoring (Free
on the web (PDF)) - Provides information on how to design
a monitoring system to observe changes in chemical water
quality associated with agricultural nonpoint source controls.
This guide is published in two parts: one covering how
to monitor and the second on how to interpret monitoring
results.
Volunteer
Water Quality Monitoring Field Manual (Free on the
web (PDF)) - Designed in Pennsylvania, this guide can
be used as a resource for volunteers involved in water
quality assessments.
Water
Quality Monitoring Technical Guide Book (Free on the
web (PDF)) - The Oregon state guide was developed to provide
public guidance on restoration and enhancement measures
that could provide a benefit for aquatic ecosystem recovery.
Volunteer
Lake Monitoring: A Methods Manual (Free on the web
(HTML)) - The purpose of this manual is to present methods
for monitoring important lake conditions using citizen
volunteers. This information will be helpful to agencies,
institutions, and private citizens wishing to start new
volunteer monitoring efforts, as well as those who may
want to improve an existing program.
Volunteer
Stream Monitoring; A Methods Manual (Free on the web
(HTML)) - The purpose of this manual is to present methods
for monitoring important stream conditions using citizen
volunteers. This information will be helpful to agencies,
institutions, and private citizens wishing to start new
volunteer monitoring efforts, as well as those who may
want to improve an existing program.
Living
Waters: Using Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Habitat to
Assess Your River's Health ($25.00 for printed version)
- This book describes how to design and carry out a river
study using benthic macroinvertebrates. It provides background
information about macroinvertebrates and the role they
play in the river ecosystem, four options for monitoring
them, the detailed procedures for each option and how
to interpret and present your results.
The
Save Our Streams Project Packet ($20.00 for printed
version) - This guide contains information about becoming
a watershed steward. Includes biological monitoring instructions;
macroinvertebrate identification card; fact sheets about
water pollution; project ideas; wetlands stewardship;
stream restoration; and an extensive resource bibliography.
River
Monitoring Study Design Workbook ($10.00 for printed
version) - This book systematically guides you through
the decision-making process of determining the purposes
of your monitoring program; selecting appropriate water
quality indicators, methods and sites; deciding who to
involve; setting a schedule; and setting up a quality
assurance program.
Testing
the Waters: Chemical and Physical Vital Signs of a River
($20.00 for printed version) - This manual, designed to
meet the needs of high school teachers and community groups,
covers nine water quality indicators, information you
need design your study and deal with the data once you've
carried it out, and how to use the information to take
action. Each indicator chapter (physical survey, temperature,
turbidity, dissolved oxygen, pH, alkalinity, phosphate,
nitrate and conductivity) is clearly written with background
information, procedures for measuring them and great activities
for teaching the information to students.
Getting
Started: Designing a Monitoring Program (Free on the
web (HTML)) - This article explains the steps for designing
a scientifically-credible and realistic watershed monitoring
effort.
Performing Public Outreach
Although it is part of bringing your community together
to create a watershed management plan, public outreach is
much more than that. Public outreach is something that needs
to be done at all stages of watershed management planning.
Citizens need to know that a plan is going to be created
and that their input is welcome and necessary. The plan's
completion should be celebrated and announced to the public
so that citizens can read and push for the plan's implementation.
Lastly, the public should be informed of opportunities for
citizen involvement through monitoring and restoration efforts
as well as informing them of steps that individual homeowners
can take to protect and restore the watershed. Remember
- a watershed managment plan will only succeed if the public
is behind the effort!
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