Local planning initiatives typically tackle problems or they seek to protect or improve peoples’ quality of life. Watershed planning is no different. Some watershed plans are developed to address continuing watershed issue like degrading fisheries, while others seek to address severe pollution problems like abandoned drainage or heavy sediment pollution from erosion along streambanks.

Why is this important, you ask? No matter where we live or work, we are in a watershed. Components of the watershed such as landscape, water quality, and plants and animals, help shape our interactions with nature. Knowing your watershed means coming to learn the natural processes working within the watershed boundaries. Careful watershed planning does more than just protect the water and the plants and animals that actually live in the water. It can help protect the physical, chemical, and biological components of your watershed, or restore those that have already been degraded. Watershed plans can be used to help improve or preserve water quality to safeguard the flora and fauna that make up balanced ecosystems, and to restore ecosystems whose balance has been degraded.

Other planning efforts bring together citizen groups, local agencies and states to work together on plans for community and environmental improvements. The degree of success achieved in watershed planning often depends on having people that can devote substantial time to the effort. Check out these successful plans below that have been developed for some of our local watersheds.