Watershed Restoration Planning

A Watershed Restoration Plan is an important tool for identifying and prioritizing the work necessary to improve water resources in a particular watershed. It provides a step-by-step framework for connecting watershed restoration projects (i.e. re-vegetation efforts, channel reconstruction, stream restoration or enhancement, etc) to the resources needed to carry them out (financial, technical, or volunteer resources). The primary goals of a Watershed Restoration Plan are to reduce non-point source pollutants (i.e. excess sediment, excess nutrients, and/or high temperatures), but each watershed restoration plan also has the opportunity to express unique concerns or conservation goals for their particular watershed.

Developing a Watershed Restoration Plans requires the input of multiple watershed stakeholders (those with an interest in the water quality and quantity of given watershed). These stakeholders are the ones who guide restoration plan development, and whose goals are covered within the plan. By encouraging involvement from all watershed stakeholders, a Watershed Restoration Plan will guide water resource work that maximizes public benefit by focusing efforts on areas of highest need, greatest potential benefit, and allowing resource funding to be used more efficiently.