watershed planning basics - cornell university
TRANSCRIPT
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Watershed Planning Basics
Emily VailHudson River Estuary Program,
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
NYS Water Resources Institute
at Cornell University
May 19, 2016
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Presentation Outline
Hudson River Estuary Program
Regional watershed issues
Why watershed planning?
What does a watershed plan
look like?
What are the key steps?
Case Studies: Quassaick
Creek & Wappinger Creek
What can you do next?
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Hudson River Estuary Program
Six Benefits:
Clean water
Resilient communities
Vital estuary ecosystem
Estuary fish, wildlife, and
their habitats
Scenic river landscape
Education, river access,
recreation, and inspiration
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Hudson River
Estuary Watershed
Albany
New York City
Hudson River Estuary
watershed = 5,300 mi2
Catskill Creek
watershed = 415 mi2
(3rd largest sub-watershed)
Catskill
Creek
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What is a watershed?
The land area that drains to a
common body of water
Geographic feature
Includes political, and social
boundaries
Scalable
Map courtesy of Greene
County Soil & Water
Conservation District
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What is a watershed?
The land area that drains to a
common body of water
Geographic feature
Includes political, and social
boundaries
Scalable
Map courtesy of Greene
County Soil & Water
Conservation District
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Map courtesy of Cornell
Cooperative Extension
Dutchess County
Watershed
Assessments
and Plans
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Why watershed planning?
Protect healthy streams
Restore impaired waters
Drinking water,
swimming, fishing,
recreation, wildlife,
scenery, flooding…
Photo by Larry Federman
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Watershed issues – Water Quality
Sediment
Nutrients
Heavy metals
Road salt
Sewage
Pesticides
Oil and grease
Trash Photo by Liz LoGiudice
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Watershed issues – Water Quantity
Flooding
Erosion
Droughts
Low base
flow in
streams
Photos by Liz LoGiudice
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Watershed issues – Habitat
Aquatic connectivity
Terrestrial connectivity
Invasive species
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Watershed issues – Trends
Development
Climate change
Watershed
resiliency
Hurricane Irene -
Photos by Liz
LoGiudice
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Why watershed planning?
Brings together stakeholders
(including municipalities)
Consolidates information
Unified approach, communities
work together across the watershed
Creates a shared vision, builds
consensus
Identifies strategies & projects
Helps justify grants and other fundingPhoto by Liz LoGiudice
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Types of watershed plans
Total Maximum Daily Load – TMDL/303(d) list
Reduce loads of a pollutant in impaired watersheds
Example: Chesapeake Bay
EPA 9 element watershed plan
Similar to TMDL, but more of a planning process
Example: Genesee River
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Types of watershed plans
DOS watershed plan
Example: Quassaick Creek
Can focus on particular
subwatershed or issue
Example: Lower Esopus Creek
River Reconnaissance Report
Geomorphic assessment,
flooding Map from Lower Esopus Creek River
Reconnaissance Report Appendix
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At the end of the planning process…
Group of stakeholders on board to work on issues/priorities
Maps and other representations of existing information
Understand information gaps
Prioritized, specific, and strategic actions to improve
watershed health
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Priorities from Catskill Creek Summit (10/15/15)
Challenges:
Flooding, erosion,
sedimentation
Education
Protecting habitat
Infrastructure
Opportunities:
Recreation
Education
Tourism
Habitat protection
Planning, zoning,
comprehensive plans
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What are the key steps?
Delineate a watershed (appropriate scale)
Bring together stakeholders
Compile existing data
Prioritize issues
Create goals
Specify actions
Implement the plan!
Measure progress and adapt if necessary
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Delineate a watershed
Catskill Creek watershed
~40 miles long, 415 mi2
watershed
16 municipalities
4 counties
USGS watershed delineations
DEC waterbody segments
Map courtesy Greene
County Soil & Water
Conservation District
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Bring together stakeholders
Municipalities
Government agencies
Academic institutions
Non-profits
City and regional planners
Community groups
Property-owners
Businesses
Developers Photo from Hudson River Watershed Alliance
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Compile existing data
Physical characteristics
Water quality
Water quantity
Land use/land cover
Habitat
Water infrastructure
Demographics & other social data
Local laws
Previous plans
People are important
resources, too!
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Identify gaps & prioritize issues
What additional information is
needed?
Can use planning process to
conduct studies or have a
priority project in the plan to
address the needs
Are there priority locations or
issues to focus on?
Photo by Liz LoGiudice
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Specify actions to improve conditions
Watershed vision -> more specific goals -> objectives
Each project should have specific location, partners and
(ideally) funding source identified
Implement the plan!
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Measure progress and adapt
What are you measuring?
(indicators)
How do you know if
conditions are improving?
Adaptive management
Photo by Liz LoGiudice
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Warning!
Don’t discount stakeholders
Don’t be overly general
Don’t take on too much, too quickly
Don’t keep the plan on the shelf
Don’t spend all your energy on planning
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Don’t wait for a plan!
Trees for Tribs
Culvert Project
Implement green infrastructure
Natural Resource Inventories
Climate Smart Communities
Water quality assessments with
WAVE
Community clean ups
Trees for Tribs at Bayard Elsbree Park
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Quassaick Creek Case Study
56 mi2
2 counties and 5 munis
Funding - DOS, Orange
County Water Authority
Watershed Management Plan
54 recommendations
10 priority actions
2 year process (2012-2014)
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Quassaick Creek Case Study
Quassaick Creek Watershed Management Recommendations
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What can we learn from the Quassaick?
High-capacity advisory committee
Municipalities participated, planning depts
from both counties
Leveraged funds to fill gaps
Plan is specific
Plan is being implemented
Quassaick Creek Watershed
Alliance continued their work
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The mouth of the Creek at the
New Hamburg Train Station
The headwaters of the Creek at
Thompson Pond, Pine Plains, NY
• 210 mi2
• Dutchess County – 12 municipalities
• Rural, suburban, & urban land use
DUTCHESS COUNTY
Wappinger Creek Case Study
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Wappinger Lake
• NYS 303d list of impaired
waterbodies
• TMDL = Total Maximum Daily Load
Wappinger Lake
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Wappinger Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council
• Began as Wappinger Creek Watershed Planning Committee (1995)
• Natural Resource Mgmt Plan(1995-1999)
• Water quality study: (Summer 97 – Spring 2000)
• Community Leadership Alliance(May 1999)
• Formed Intermunicipal Council(first meeting 1/2001, signed IMA 6/2004)
Participants of the CLA Meeting – May 1999
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StructureCouncil Membership
2 representatives per member municipality (Supervisor/Mayor & other)
One vote per member municipality (13)
Ex-officio & Volunteer members(non-voting)
• CCEDC, DCSWCD, County Planning, HREP, etc…
Meets Quarterly
Working Group
Advisory & Volunteer Committee
Meets monthly
Bylaws
Establish a chair, vice-chair & secretary
Goals
Tree for Tribs Planting
at Greenvale Park,
Poughkeepsie, NY
Recognition by Senator Gipson
and Assemblywoman Barrett
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Accomplishments• Better Site Design Roundtables
• Stakeholder Survey of municipal leaders and
residents with Cornell University faculty
on beliefs, perceptions and practices related to water quality
• Wappinger Creek Week & Watershed Awareness
Month 2009 – 2012
• Outreach materials, publications & presentations
• Monitoring Study of stream temperature in
tributaries
• Designation of Inland Waterway
• Shared Service Grants
• DOS Local Waterfront Revitalization Grant
Educating residents at the Picnic in the
Park celebration
Monitoring in
Hunns Lake Creek
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Resources
Hudson River Estuary Program – Grants and technical
assistance
NYS Dept of State – guidebook
EPA – Occasional grants, resources
Hudson River Watershed Alliance - Examples of
watershed plans
Center for Watershed Protection - Resources on planning
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What you can do
What is your goal?
Review existing watershed plans
Model to replicate? Lessons learned?
Who should be at the table?
What issues are most important in your watershed?
What data are available?
Where are there existing plans?
Where are there gaps?
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In summary…
Watershed planning brings
people together, helps
come to consensus on
strategic next steps to
improve watershed health
Depends on local priorities
Grants & other resources
available
Photo by Jeff Anzevino
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Thank You!
Emily Vail
Watershed Outreach Specialist
Hudson River Estuary Program
(845) 256-3145
Connect with us:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NYSDEC
Twitter: twitter.com/NYSDEC
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/nysdec
Carolyn Klocker
Sr. Water Resource Educator
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Dutchess County
845-677-8223, ext. 135