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Forming and Planning an Organization
- General Watershed Information
- Adopt Your Watershed - Check out this site to learn more about watersheds, add your watershed
group to the catalog of more than 3,000 other groups, or participate in a chat room. This site also lists Fifteen Things You Can Do to
Make a Difference in Your Watershed and more information on special projects, such as what Girl Scouts are doing to help protect their
local watersheds through a new Water Drop Patch Project.
- Know Your Watershed
- CTIC has put together this web site of useful materials to assist watershed groups. It contains information on how to start a watershed group
and gather information about a watershed, as well as a list of local watershed partnerships around the country.
- National Showcase Watersheds (PDF) (226 pages,
7.5 MB, about PDF) - This web site contains information on the Clean Water Action Plan's
12 successful stream restoration projects.
- Surf Your Watershed (SURF) - This site was created to enable citizens to locate and check on
the health of their watersheds, identify current restoration efforts, obtain real-time water quality data for participating states, and
much more. This site also offers a list of state contacts for further information.
- Top Ten Watershed Lessons Learned - As with any change of this magnitude, there has been
much trial and error when dealing with watershed issues, and important lessons have been learned that are worth sharing. Oftentimes, these
lessons have been shared informally through networking at conferences, by phone, or over the Internet. Watershed Lessons Learned is EPA's
attempt to identify the top lessons learned and present them in one place.
- Watershed Information - This step-by-step interactive guide to help watershed
program coordinators includes information on how to get started, offers avenues for financial and technical assistance, and explains
important water-related laws.
- Watershed Protection: A Project Focus - Check out this site to view an interactive
handbook that provides a blueprint for designing and implementing watershed projects. It includes sections on defining problems, setting goals,
and measuring success.
- Watershed Management Planning
- Coastal Conservancy
- This site includes a Watershed Planning Guide to help a watershed group in the planning process and provides a great flow chart that covers
everything from startup to handling stumbling blocks. This site also includes guides on developing monitoring plans and sample action plans.
- Crosscurrents: Managing Water Resources
- This document outlines the changes needed to build on Minnesota's current management structure. For state agencies, options include developing
a multiyear plan to merge regional offices, integrating financial assistance programs, and identifying additional permitting decisions that can
be handled through simplified means. Investments in technology could yield major improvements throughout the management system.
- A Guide to Developing Local Watershed Action Plans in Ohio
- This guide is designed to assist citizens, citizen organizations, businesses, and local governmental agencies start planning and implementing
watershed projects. The Guide describes how to find the information and resources needed to create and implement a local watershed action
plan, address multiple causes of water quality and habitat degradation in a watershed, and involve stakeholders in a process of prioritizing
problems and developing integrated solutions.
- How to Save a River: A Handbook for Citizen Action - How to Save a River presents in a concise and readable format the wisdom
gained from years of river protection campaigns across the United States. The book begins by defining general principles of action,
including getting organized, planning a campaign, building public support, and putting a plan into action. How to Save a River provides
an important overview of the resource issues involved in river protection and suggests sources for further investigation. Numerous examples
of successful river protection campaigns prove that ordinary citizens do have the power to create change when they know how to organize themselves.
Order online from the
River Network.
- Lake Smarts: The First Lake Maintenance Handbook; A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Solving Lake Problems - This how-to manual
discusses field tested, easy, and affordable projects to help you clean up, improve, and maintain the lakes and ponds in your community.
Recommended for lake managers, homeowner associations, fishers, individuals, and families who live on or near the water, The First Lake
Maintenance Handbook covers all lake problems--algae, aquatic weeds, sediments, muddy water, waste disposal, undesirable fish, and greedy
waterfowl--and tells you where to find equipment and how much it costs. Order online from the
Terrene Institute.
- Lake and Reservoir Restoration Manual - This guidance manual is written for the informed citizen who is interested in lakes
and reservoirs. The manual includes information to help users identify, describe, and define their lake problems and evaluate available lake and
watershed management practices for addressing problems or protecting current quality. It describes the process of developing a site-specific lake
or reservoir management plan and illustrates how to put a lake management plan in practice and evaluate its effectiveness. Order online from the
Terrene Institute.
- Oregon Watershed Assessment Manual
- A watershed assessment is a process for determining how well a watershed is working. This manual outlines the process of conducting an
assessment, which includes a lot of public participation.
- Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success Stories - This document demonstrates the
successful implementation of the Section 319 Clean Water Act Nonpoint Source program. The report provides examples of successful solutions to
a variety of water quality problems caused by nonpoint source pollution.
- Section 319 Success Stories: Volume II Highlights of State and Tribal Nonpoint Source
Programs - The second volume of Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success Stories, this document gives examples of success stores that have
come with the maturation of state nonpoint source programs.
- Starting Up: A Handbook for New River and Watershed Organizations - Based on the experience of dozens of veteran leaders in
the river and conservation movements, this handbook lays out the critical moves every newly forming organization needs to thrive and grow,
including choosing a name, developing your mission statement, recruiting your board of directors, fundraising, working with volunteers, working
with the media, and producing a newsletter. It includes pages of river-related examples and much more. Order online at
Rivernetwork.
- Indiana Watershed Planning Guide
- This guide outlines the processes that have enabled watershed groups to succeed. It explores the steps to developing a watershed management
plan and lists publications, web sites, governmental contacts, water quality data sources, and funding sources. It is the update of Watershed Action Guide for Indiana.
Capacity Building Resources Home |
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Program/Project Management |
Getting Local Interest and Support |
Funding |
Problem Identification |
Technical Resources |
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