The 8 Tools of Watershed Protection
Each stream and river has its own drainage area called a watershed. Together, these watersheds filter water, provide wildlife habitat, store floodwaters, provide opportunities for recreation, and offer vistas of natural beauty. Watershed protection is a holistic approach to conserving or restoring land and water resources, which provide us with these important benefits free-of-charge. Based on our partnership with the Center for Watershed Protection, a nationally recognized leader in stormwater control and watershed protection, we have chosen to adopt their strategy of utilizing the eight tools of watershed protection.
The tools are designed to generally follow the process of land development from planning and site design through home ownership. In every watershed, some combination of these eight tools will be useful in protecting your community’s water resources. The tools are:
- Watershed planning
- Land conservation
- Aquatic buffers
- Better site design
- Erosion control
- Stormwater treatment practices
- Control of non-stormwater discharges
- Watershed stewardship
For more information about each of the 8 tools of watershed protection, please visit the U.S. EPA's watershed training module (http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/protection/) or see the following Center for Watershed Protection article (http://www.cwp.org/Resource_Library/Center_Docs/PWP/ELC_PWP27.pdf).
