Successful watershed planning: it's more than just science
Ann Arbor, MI — How to measure success in watershed planning? Like many resource management issues, the metrics include both science and public policy. A multi-year planning effort for the Conesus Lake watershed, the western-most of New York's Finger Lakes, has drawn together a diverse community of farmers, local officials, agency representatives, and cottagers to restore and protect their lake. The watershed planning process was a long conversation focused on four questions: "where are we?"; "where are we going?"; "where do we want to be?"; and "how do we get there?"
"Putting the human dimension in resource management is the key to success," said Elizabeth Moran, Principal Scientist at EcoLogic LLC, an environmental consulting firm in Cazenovia New York. "The watershed management plan focuses on maintaining Conesus Lake in a healthy and resilient condition so that it can provide the services humans want and need."
Successful community-based watershed planning takes community understanding of the relative importance of the underlying causes of degradation, grass-roots support for investment of public funds, willingness of the public to examine the effects of their own actions, and unwavering commitment from elected officials are all necessary for the plan to move from recommendations to actions.
Original Publication Information
Results of this study, "Comprehensive Watershed Planning in New York State: The Conesus Lake Example," are reported by Elizabeth C. Moran and David O. Woods in the latest issue (Volume 35, Suppl. 1, pp. 10-14) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by Elsevier, 2009.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact contact Elizabeth Moran, EcoLogic LLC, lmoran@EcoLogiclLLC.com, (315) 655-8305.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; editor@iaglr.org; (608) 692-1076.
Since 1967, IAGLR has served as the focal point for compiling and disseminating multidisciplinary knowledge on North America's Laurentian Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world and their watersheds. In part, IAGLR communicates this knowledge through publication of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, available to members in print and electronic form. A searchable archive of the journal is available online and includes the abstracts of articles from the journal's inception in 1975 through the most recent issue. In addition, complete articles are available to members who have signed up for an electronic subscription.