WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

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WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

• Module 23 part A Social Component

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Watershed management organization

• Social Component
• Ecological Component
• Economic Component

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Watershed management structure

• A strong watershed structure
• uses sound science
• facilitates communication and partnerships
• fosters actions that are well planned and cost
  effective
• stimulates actions and tracks results

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Watershed management organization

• Social components
• Organizational Set-up
• Assessment
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation

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Social organization component

• The most common watershed management structure is
  a combination of both government and citizen
  directed groups. This type of organization does
  not usually have regulatory authority but makes
  recommendations to local government agencies to
  ensure that management strategies selected by a
  diverse group of stakeholders is implemented.

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Organizational set-up

• Goal of local watershed management organizations
  is to protect preserve restore natural
  resources through
• Assessment
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation
• The core of the process for achieving these goals
  is to build a watershed partnership

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Build a partnership

• Recruit a diverse group of stakeholders who are
  affected by and who benefit from the watershed.
  This includes but is not limited too
• Local government officials
• Residents
• Scientists
• Businesses
• Nonprofit agencies
• State agencies
• Federal agencies
• Non-residents and concerned citizens

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Recruit a multi-disciplinary group to serve

• Publicize the watershed organization to encourage
  citizen participation
• Call or write to area businesses (e.g. Chamber of
  Commerce source) to solicit representatives to
  serve on the planning committee
• Invite local state federal government agencies
  to share personnel who can provide technical
  advice
• Encourage area schools and universities to
  participate

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Establish a citizens advisory committee

• A diverse group of stakeholders from public and
  private sector
• Has authority to develop and implement a plan
• Provides recommendations to a decision-making
  body (e. g. county board city council
  nonprofit board local grass roots authority)
• Provides media relations to increase watershed
  awareness (e.g. press releases)
• Coordinates programs to engage watershed
  volunteers (i.e. clean-ups monitoring
  fundraising etc.)

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Establish a technical advisory committee

• A group usually of scientific professionals
  including public agency staff with expertise in
  scientific matters associated with watershed
  management
• Interprets scientific data for the watershed
  management organization
• Assists with evaluation of monitoring data and
  monitoring needs
• Provides assessments and coordination of approved
  implementation projects

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Joint Powers Agreement

• Government plays an essential role especially
  when the watershed extends over more than one
  political jurisdiction
• Government often provides financial and technical
  resources necessary for a watershed management
  organization to sustain themselves
• Joint powers agreements (political agreement)
  help promote better coordination and sharing of
  data staff stakeholders and the planning and
  implementation processes

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Organizational set-up

• Goal of local watershed management organizations
  is to protect preserve restore natural
  resources through
• Assessment What is happening in the watershed
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation

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Assessment What is happening in the watershed

• What conditions are bringing the organization
  together
• Is it a desire to protect an undisturbed
  resource
• Is it a threat to a valuable resource
• Is there a need to restore a lost resource
• To answer this the organization must document the
  ecological biological chemical and physical
  conditions of the watershed

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Assessment Document watershed conditions using
sound science

• Prepare a natural resource inventory
• Analyze and summarize monitoring data
• Interview people who have lived in the watershed
  for a long period and have them reflect on
  changes they have seen

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Assessment Knowledge of watershed/ecological
information leads to better decision-making

• a resource in good condition requires prevention
  management techniques to protect it from any
  degradation
• a resource in good to moderate condition
  requires protection management techniques to help
  sustain the existing quality of the resource by
  preventing further degradation
• a resource in moderate to poor condition
  requires restoration management techniques to
  help it attain an acceptable level of quality by
  restoring the area from previous degradation

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What is a Natural Resource Assessment

• A method using the natural resource inventory
  data to rank and prioritize areas for
  preservation protection or restoration.
• Varies community by community.
• Eden Prairie MN used their wetlands inventory to
  determine vegetative buffer widths along varying
  wetlands.

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Organizational set-up

• Goal of local watershed management organizations
  is to protect preserve restore natural
  resources through
• Assessment
• Planning What needs to be done
• Implementation
• Evaluation

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Planning What needs to be done

• A watershed plan is the document which specifies
  the goals policies and strategies for the
  watershed.
• Goals Statements that describe the desired
  future watershed condition toward which programs
  activities and decisions are directed.
• Policies The strategic steps or intermediate
  ends required to reach the watersheds goals.
• Strategies The specific actions by which the
  community will achieve its goals

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Planning Example Goals

• In Minnesota Carver County used guidelines
  established by state statute to develop a set of
  water management goals. Some of these goals
  included
• Protect preserve and manage natural surface and
  groundwater storage and retention systems
• Effectively and efficiently manage public capital
  expenditures needed to correct flooding and water
  quality problems
• Identify and plan for means to effectively
  protect and improve surface and groundwater
  quality
• Protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat and
  water recreational facilities

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Planning Example Policies

• Stormwater
• Provide stormwater attenuation to minimize
  degradation of the water resources through a
  reduction in the amount and rate of surface water
  runoff from agricultural and urban land uses.
• Wetlands
• Manage and restore wetlands in the watershed to
  protect the values of wetland functions as
  determined from a wetland inventory and
  functional values analysis

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Planning Example Strategies

• Stormwater
• Set an impervious surface cover cap in the
  subwatersheds.
• Add X acres of wetlands in the watershed.
• Wetlands
• Complete a wetland inventory and assess the
  values of the wetland functions for each of the
  watersheds
• Implement a buffer ordinance for wetlands based
  on level of priority

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Organizational set-up

• Goal of local watershed management organizations
  is to protect preserve restore natural
  resources through
• Assessment
• Planning
• Implementation How do you get there
• Evaluation

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Implementation How do you get there

• The Watershed Plan is the communitys guide for
  project implementation. It includes
• Strategies or the tasks that need to be done in
  order of priority.
• Time Frame for tasks to be completed.
• Capital Improvement Plan which provides estimates
  of the funding needs for each task.

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Implementation - Example
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Organizational set-up

• Goal of local watershed management organizations
  is to protect preserve restore natural
  resources through
• Assessment
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation Did you make it

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Evaluation - Did you make it

• Evaluation is the key to measuring success of the
  watershed plan and toward making appropriate
  adjustments. Evaluation is important in various
  components of the watershed management including
• administration
• water quality monitoring
• mid-course corrections
• long-term maintenance

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Evaluation

• Administration component includes evaluating and
  publicizing the interim measures of success such
  as measuring how well the watershed is managed
  strategies are implemented data is gathered and
  monitoring is evaluated. This may be done by
• Preparing progress reports
• Public awareness presentations and newsletters
• Number and result of projects completed
• Evaluating data and distributing results
• Recommending adjustments to the plan

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Evaluation

• Water quality monitoring component is important
  for
• assessing baseline conditions
• detecting trends in ambient water quality
• measuring the pollutant-removal efficiencies of
  bmps
• demonstrating effectiveness of restoration
  measures
• monitoring the long-term maintenance of controls

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Evaluation

• Mid-course corrections should be built into the
  process to periodically review all aspects of
  strategies including
• indications from monitoring that the problem is
  not being solved
• other problems are created that are more
  difficult to control
• goal(s) are reached but it is not effective
  enough to reach water quality goals
• measurable objectives (pollutant load reductions
  hydrologic controls etc.) were not set correctly
  to solve the problem.

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Evaluation

• Ensuring long-term maintenance is often the least
  discussed and most difficult. Regular on-going
  maintenance must be provide for to ensure
  success.
• Maintenance programs should be self-supporting
  whenever possible.
• Projects are more likely to succeed if supported
  by private sector and citizens
• Demonstrating success to the public is important
  for ensuring support for needed local regulations

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Evaluation

• Establish evaluation criteria to assess both
  outcomes and process
• Conduct evaluations throughout the watershed
  management process not just at the end
• Information gathered during other phases of
  watershed management (assessment planning
  implementation) can be used as part of the
  evaluation process
• Incorporate any recommendations or insights
  gained from evaluations into the process right
  away

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References

• Center for Watershed Protection. 1998. Rapid
  Watershed Planning Handbook. Center for Watershed
  Protection. Ellicott City Maryland.
  http//www.cwp.org.
• Center for Watershed Protection. 1997. The
  Economics of Watershed Protection. Watershed
  Protection Techniques Vol. 2 No. 4. Center for
  Watershed Protection Ellicott City Maryland.
  http//www.cwp.org.
• Honachefsky William B. 2000. Ecologically Based
  Municipal Land Use Planning. Lewis Publishers
  Boca Raton FL. 256 pp.
• Know Your Watershed. Putting Together A Watershed
  Management Plan A Guide for Watershed Partners.
  Conservation Technology Information Center W.
  Lafayette IN. http//www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Broc
  hures/PutTogether.html
• Ministry of Environment and Energy and Ministry
  of Natural Resources. 1993. Water Management on a
  Watershed Basis Implementing an Ecosystem
  Approach. Ministry of Environment and Energy and
  Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario Canada.
  32 pp. http//www.ene.gov.on.ca/programs/3109e.pdf
  .
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2004.
  A Quick Guide to Using Natural Resource
  Information. Minnesota Department of Natural
  Resources St. Paul MN. www.dnr.state.mn.us.
• Terrene Institute. 1996. A Watershed Approach to
  Urban Runoff Handbook for Decisionmakers.
  Terrene Institute Inc. Alexandria VA. 115 pp.
  (Terrene Institute is no longer in operation
  see http//www.enviroscapes.com/images/communit.JP
  G for a poster concept).
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1997. Top
  10 Watershed Lessons Learned. National Center for
  Environmental Publications and Information.
  800-490-9198. http//www.epa.gov/owow/lessons/less
  onspdfs/top10.pdf.