Steps to Developing Watershed Protection Plans
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters, major steps in the watershed planning and implementation process include:
- Build Partnerships
- Identify key stakeholders
- Identify issues of concern
- Set preliminary goals
- Develop indicators
- Conduct public outreach
- Characterize the Watershed
- Gather existing data and create a watershed inventory
- Identify data gaps and collect additional data if needed
- Analyze data
- Identify causes and sources of pollution that need to be controlled
- Estimate pollutant loads
- More information on gathering data to assess your watershed...
- Finalize Goals and Identify Solutions
- Set overall goals and management objectives
- Develop indicators/targets
- Determine load reductions needed
- Identify critical areas
- Develop management measures to achieve goals
- Design an Implementation Program
- Develop implementation schedule
- Develop interim milestones to track implementation of management measures
- Develop criteria to measure progress toward meeting watershed goals
- Develop monitoring component
- Develop information/education component
- Develop evaluation process
- Identify technical and financial assistance needed to implement plan
- Assign responsibility for reviewing and revising the plan
- Implement Watershed Plan
- Implement management strategies
- Conduct monitoring
- Conduction information/education activities
- Measure Progress and Make Adjustments
- Review and evaluate information
- Share results
- Prepare annual work plans
- Report back to stakeholders and others
- Make adjustments to program