Vision and Purpose of the Southeast New England Program
Vision
A resilient ecosystem of clean water, healthy diverse habitats, and sustainable communities in southeast New England’s coastal watersheds.
Mission
Foster collaboration among regional partners across southeast New England’s coastal watersheds to protect and restore water quality, ecological health and diverse habitats by sharing knowledge and resources, promoting innovative approaches, and leveraging economic and environmental investments to meet the needs of current and future generations.
Long-term Goals
Goal 1: Restore water quality and physical processes that support ecosystem function and watershed resilience.
Goal 2: Bolster sustainable communities by protecting and enhancing ecosystem services that support local economies in the SNEP region.
Goal 3: Assess, track, and communicate change in condition and the effectiveness of actions.
Goal 4: Enable innovative solutions that facilitate new technologies and approaches to improve habitat, aquatic life, and water quality.
Goal 5: Build on existing geographic programs and foster new programs in the SNEP region to advance solutions to regional environmental issues.
Guiding Principles
- Partner across local, state, and regional initiatives to expand and extend promising approaches for community and watershed resilience and adaptation
- Provide opportunities to test and assess the effectiveness of innovative technologies for protection and restoration
- Elevate and stimulate local policies and partnerships to advance common priorities and leverage investment, innovation, efficiency, and coordination
- Develop and share methods for incorporating ecosystem services into environmental management decisions in the SNEP region
- Promote adaptive management as a flexible and effective means of restoring resources.
- Align restoration and management efforts on a regional scale to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency
Current Priority Actions
| Action | Goal 1 | Goal 2 | Goal 3 | Goal 4 | Goal 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify current monitoring needs throughout the SNEP region | X | X | |||
| Build capacity of municipalities and of SNEP partners to support restoration activities | X | X | |||
| Expand the use of nature-based approaches to treat pollution at the source and offer associated benefits for habitat, wildlife, and outdoor recreation | X | X | X | ||
| Identify opportunities to restore water quality and physical processes that support critical habitat and ecosystem function | X | X | X | ||
| Develop an approach for valuating regional ecosystem services of coastal watersheds in southeastern New England | X | ||||
| Develop a 5-year action plan to address program priorities | X | X | X | X | X |