Partnership Resource Center

Watersheds

Partnerships are key to managing watersheds, which do not conform to city limits or state boundaries. It takes careful coordination to address watershed issues like fish and wildlife habitat, clean water, land use planning, restoration, and social and economic concerns.

Through broad-based, inclusive partnerships, groups of citizens, organizations, government agencies, tribes, and universities can consider watershed health in an integrated, holistic way. The resources on this page will help people to manage local resources through a watershed approach.

Organizations and Programs

Relevant Government Programs

The Community Based Watershed Restoration Partnerships include project overviews, business plans, and lessons-learned reports for several large-scale watershed restoration efforts.

The Forest Service Cooperative Forestry staff provides information on the use of forests and forestry practices to protect and restore watershed health and condition.

The Northeastern Area of the Forest Service provides support for a variety of large-scale watershed efforts addressing a wide diversity of ecological and socioeconomic issues over the long-term.

Watershed Information Network is an Environmental Protection Agency web site that provides useful resources such as:

Wildland Waters is a series of six publications. Each issue is devoted to a single topic with the intent of promoting understanding of and developing collaborative solutions to water issues.

Other Programs

Know Your Watershed is a coordinated national effort to encourage the formation of local watershed partnerships and help them attain their goals. Resources include:

River Network helps people establish strong and enduring watershed conservation organizations and programs.

WaterShed Partners is a coalition of over 40 public, private and non-profit organizations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area (with nationally applicable resources) that provides collaborative educational outreach and teaches residents how to care for area waters.

In the late 1990s, Western Governors' Association (WGA) and a coalition of partners examined western water management, including the potentials of watershed partnerships for improved management in specific areas. Its findings are still timely.

Large woody debris plays an important role in river ecosystems. Find out how partners developed an innovative method to restore large sections of the Au Sable and Manistee Rivers. More...

Funding

For funding related to Watersheds, visit the PRC funding page.

Key Forest Service Contact

For a listing of regional and national agency contacts, please visit the Cooperative Forestry webpage.

Publications

For a full list of available publications related to watershed interests, please visit WestCAN—your on-line collaboration library.

For a water quality information database, the USDA National Agriculture Library Water Quality Information Center collects and organizes scientific findings, educational methodologies, and public policy issues related to water quality and agriculture and makes this information available through electronic access.