Healthy Watersheds Program Reports and Publications

This page provides links to several EPA documents that have played a key role in the development and operation of the Healthy Watersheds Program.

On this page:

Healthy Watersheds Program Fact Sheet
Economic Benefits of Protecting Healthy Watersheds
Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessment Project Reports
Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds: Concepts, Assessments, and Management Approaches
Memorandum of Understanding to Promote the Healthy Watersheds Initiative
Healthy Watersheds Initiative: National Framework and Action Plan
Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop Proceedings
Healthy Watersheds Workshop Synthesis
Healthy Watersheds Outreach
Past Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Information

Healthy Watersheds Program Fact Sheet

This two-page summary of the Healthy Watersheds Program describes the program's origins and purpose along with synopses of its primary activity areas.

Last updated in 2017.

EPA Healthy Watersheds Program Fact Sheet (PDF) (2 pp, 195 K)

Economic Benefits of Protecting Healthy Watersheds

This fact sheet presents the economic benefits of protecting healthy watersheds by highlighting examples from existing peer-reviewed literature and studies. The fact sheet describes studies that demonstrate protecting healthy watersheds can reduce capital costs for water treatment plants and reduce damages to property and infrastructure due to flooding, thereby avoiding future costs. Additionally, examples in the fact sheet show that protecting healthy watersheds can generate revenue through property value premiums, recreation, and tourism. This fact sheet directs readers to important resources to learn more about the substantial efforts to monetize ecosystem services from across the country.

Fact Sheet: The Economic Benefits of Protecting Healthy Watersheds (PDF) (4 pp, 769 K)

Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessment Project Reports

The Watershed Protection Projects by State and Region page provides links to reports on Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessment projects funded by the EPA, as well as other protection-focused resources. Integrated assessment projects were completed for Alabama and the Mobile Bay Basin, California, the Clinch and Powell River System, Wisconsin and Tennessee. The reports are detailed technical documents that present the results of comparative measurement of a series of watershed health and vulnerability indices across large areas.

Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds: Concepts, Assessments, and Management Approaches

This technical document was developed to help implement the Healthy Watersheds Program by providing water quality and aquatic resource scientists and managers with an overview of key concepts, examples of approaches, tools, and data for assessing watershed health. The document also includes examples of management approaches to protect healthy watersheds.

The links below will allow you to open downloadable PDF files of the full document or one of its seven sections. You may view or download each file by clicking on its link. The full document is a very large file and may take a long time to download. The individual sections of the full document are much smaller files that will open quicker.

Identifying and Protecting Healthy Watersheds: Concepts, Assessments, and Management Approaches (Complete Technical Document) (PDF) (296 pp, 102 MB)

Front Cover, Disclaimer, Table of Contents, Figures, Tables, Acronyms & Abbreviations, Memo from EPA Management, Acknowledgements (PDF) (20 pp, 4 MB)
Chapter 1: Introduction (PDF) (8 pp, 661 K)
Chapter 2: Key Concepts and Assessment Approaches (PDF) (34 pp, 9 MB)
Chapter 3: Examples of Assessment Approaches (PDF) (84 pp, 63 MB)
Chapter 4: Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments (PDF) (66 pp, 23 MB)
Chapter 5: Management Approaches (PDF) (48 pp, 5 MB)
References, Acronyms & Abbreviations, Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, and Back Cover (PDF) (50 pp, 700 K)

Memorandum of Understanding to Promote the Healthy Watersheds Initiative

In February 2013, the EPA, The Nature Conservancy and the Association of Clean Water Administrators jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize a mutual collaboration to develop and implement healthy watersheds programs in states and with regional aquatic ecosystem initiatives.

Memorandum of Understanding to Promote the Healthy Watersheds Initiative (PDF) (7 pp, 370 K)

Healthy Watersheds Initiative: National Framework and Action Plan

This report is a collaborative product of the EPA and state and federal partners with input from non-governmental organizations. It presents a clear, consistent framework for action to identify and protect healthy watersheds, both internally among the EPA's own programs and externally in working with our partners.

Healthy Watersheds Initiative National Framework and Action Plan 2011 (PDF) (28 pp, 9 MB)

Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop Proceedings

The EPA Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop was held in Estes Park, Colorado, in November 2010. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together national experts and practitioners to advance the state-of-the-science on integrated healthy watersheds assessments and discuss how assessment results could guide state or other large-scale strategic healthy watersheds protection programs.

The Workshop Proceedings (PDF) (81 pp, 1 MB)

Speaker Presentations: Attachment 1A (PDF) (136 pp, 11 MB)
Speaker Presentations: Attachment 1B (PDF) (105 pp, 11 MB)
Speaker Presentations: Attachment 1C (PDF) (96 pp, 9 MB)
Speaker Program Summaries: Attachment 2A (PDF) (32 pp, 8 MB)
Speaker Program Summaries: Attachment 2B (PDF)

Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop Synthesis

This document synthesizes and builds on discussions from the Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop. The ideas and approaches presented here should be considered a starting point for further exploring concepts related to healthy watersheds integrated assessments and protection programs. The target audiences are scientists, program managers and policy makers at the state, federal and local levels who have a technical understanding of the topics and will be implementing management programs. However, this document should not be interpreted as program implementation guidance.

The ideas and views presented in this synthesis document are not necessarily those of the EPA, but rather, those of the individual authors and contributors, as well as the individual expert views and opinions of the workshop attendees. Approval for publication does not signify that the contents reflect the views of the Agency; no official endorsement should be inferred. This report provides information, resources, or assistance the users may then evaluate in terms of their own needs. Mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use or favoring by the United States Government. This document is not EPA policy, nor is it EPA guidance; it reflects the further development of ideas by some of the workshop participants.

Healthy Watersheds Integrated Assessments Workshop Synthesis (PDF) (78 pp, 1 MB)

Healthy Watersheds Outreach

Email Listserv

Please consider subscribing to the Healthy Watersheds Listserv, an open forum for the posting and discussion of news and information related to the assessment, identification and protection of healthy watersheds. Open to State, Territory and Tribal water quality programs; other government agencies; non-profit organizations; colleges/universities; and others interested in joining a community of practice focused on healthy watersheds protection.

Learn more at the Healthy Watersheds Listserv webpage.

Learning Exchanges

Join the EPA Healthy Watersheds Learning Exchanges, a virtual webinar series aimed at highlighting watershed protection approaches and facilitating discussions across practitioners to promote the sharing of experiences, lessons learned and tools.

Newsletters

Circulated from 2010 through 2012 as an outreach effort about healthy watersheds assessment and protection, these newsletter issues provide general interest stories about healthy watersheds for a wide range of audiences.

Issue #1 (PDF) (4 pp, 459 K)
Issue #2 (PDF) (4 pp, 530 K)
Issue #3 (PDF) (4 pp, 598 K)

Past Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Information

The EPA launched the Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Program in 2015 through a cooperative agreement with the US Endowment for Forestry & Communities and funding support from the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Program awarded approximately $11 million to a total of 56 subawards across approximately 25 states and 9 EPA regions. These projects demonstrated an array of protection techniques and approaches, including implementing watershed protection plans, building organizational and social infrastructure needed for long-term protection efforts, and employing innovative, new strategies for achieving watershed protection goals. In total, these projects supported by the Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Program contributed to the protection of more than 1 million land acres and more than 5,100 stream miles, primarily via land conservation and enhanced regulatory protections.

Project summary information: Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Project Summaries 2016 - 2019 (pdf) (695.75 KB)

For more details, see the report published by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities or visit their Healthy Watersheds Consortium webpage.