Water: Watersheds
Watershed News: October 2006
Watershed News is a publication of EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds. It is designed to provide timely information to groups working at the watershed level.
In this month's newsletter
1) “More Fish” Partnership Fund
2) Targeted Watersheds Grant Program - Implementation Grants
3) Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program
4) Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring National Facilitation Project
5) Cumberland Basin Targeted Watersheds Grant Project, TN and KY – Promoting Low Impact Development and Sustainable Building Practices
6) World Water Monitoring Day is Wednesday, October 18, 2006 and October is Water Monitoring Month
7) New report from the Smart Growth Network, This is Smart Growth, illustrates smart growth techniques from around the country
8) New Guide Highlights Incentives for Agriculture Water Quality Trading
9) EPA's Watershed Academy to sponsor Oct.11th Webcast on Getting Started in Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
10) Stream Ecosystem Restoration Training Series (SERTS), October 23-27, 2006
11) State of River Restoration Practice, a River Ecosystem Restoration Forum, November 15 & 16, 2006, Powell, Ohio
12) Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
Funding Opportunities
“More Fish” Partnership Fund
Under this program, small grants of between $10,000 and $30,000, and leadership grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded competitively by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Proposed activities eligible for funding will include aquatic habitat restoration and protection, water quality improvement, aquatic vegetation management, landowner outreach and stewardship training, and watershed planning and management. The program will provide a significant opportunity to demonstrate on-the-ground commitment to improving conditions for fisheries nationwide. Priority will be given to projects that directly implement the recommendations of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan and/or state wildlife action plans. Matching funds will be required on a 1:1 basis or higher. More details can be found on the Foundation’s website at http://www.nfwf.org
as well as on the B.A.S.S. website at http://www.bassmaster.com/federation
. The deadline for submitting proposals is November 1, 2006.
Targeted Watersheds Grant Program – Implementation Grants
The Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is a competitive grant program that encourages the protection and restoration of the country’s water resources through cooperative conservation. The program supports collaborative watershed partnerships that are ready to implement on-the-ground restoration and protection activities designed to achieve quick, measurable environmental results. The goal is to build on existing partnerships and coalitions that have evaluated and assessed their watershed, devised a technically sound watershed plan and are ready to embark on steps to implement their plans. EPA is now accepting nominations of proposals for watershed projects and activities. Nominations must be submitted by either a Governor or a Tribal Leader. Up to $16 million will be made available in grants to watershed-based projects. Watershed project proposals selected for funding will be awarded for up to $900,000 each over a three to five year period, for which EPA requires a 25% non-Federal match. You can find the solicitation and other information about the Targeted Watersheds Grant Program at http://www.epa.gov/twg/. The deadline for submitting nomination proposals is November 15, 2006.
Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program
The overall goal for the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is to expand the collective knowledge on the most innovative, sustainable and cost-effective strategies - including market-based approaches - for reducing excess nutrient loads within specific tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay. To achieve this goal, the program awards grants of up to $1 million on a competitive basis to projects that target and reflect the diverse conditions (e.g., urban, rural, suburban) and sources of nutrients (e.g., agricultural, stormwater, other non-point sources) that exist throughout the Chesapeake watershed. The Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in cooperation with the Chesapeake Bay Program. The deadline for submitting proposals is November 17, 2006. For more information visit www.nfwf.org/targetedwatersheds/ [broken link]
or contact Amanda Bassow at amanda.bassow@nfwf.org.
Watershed Tool of the Month
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring National Facilitation Project
A partnership between USDA CSREES and the Land Grant System, this National Facilitation project works to build a comprehensive support system for Extension volunteer water quality monitoring efforts across the country. The goal is to expand and strengthen the capacity of existing Extension volunteer monitoring programs and support development of new groups. The facilitation project team has had great success working closely with state and regional CSREES Water Quality Programs to develop and offer regional and statewide volunteer monitoring training courses addressing local priorities. By interacting and communicating at national, regional and local scales, they are able to enhance visibility, understanding and credibility of the role that volunteer monitoring can play to effectively address research, education and extension themes. To find out more about this National Facilitation project and volunteer water quality monitoring or other National Facilitation Projects, visit http://www.usawaterquality.org/volunteer/.
Spotlight: Watersheds At Work
Cumberland Basin Targeted Watersheds Grant Project, TN and KY – Promoting Low Impact Development and Sustainable Building Practices
In order to address the environmental challenges associated with increased development, stormwater runoff, and excessive sediment and erosion, the Cumberland River Compact’s (CRC) Building Outside the Box (BOB) project promotes sustainable building techniques and low impact development principles through partnerships and education. Developers are embracing the project to such a degree that impacts are expanding beyond the BOB sites to across the region. CRC achievements are also gaining recognition—they were recently presented with the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award in the Green Building Category. CRC is a recipient of Targeted Watersheds Grant funds.
Check out the article that appeared on Tennessean.com.[broken link] (http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/COUNTY090103/607210355/1168/BUSINESS02) [broken link]
News
World Water Monitoring Day is Wednesday, October 18, 2006 and October is Water Monitoring Month
Registration is open at http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.com
. For more information, please contact Stephanie Kavanaugh, WEF, at skavanaugh@wef.org.
EPA has developed a series of outreach and education materials for Water Monitoring Month. They can be downloaded for free at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/monitoringmonth.html.
Find out more about the condition of the nation’s streams in EPA’s draft Wadeable Streams Assessment. To download a copy of the report, go to http://www.epa.gov/owow/streamsurvey/.
New report from the Smart Growth Network, This is Smart Growth, illustrates smart growth techniques from around the country
Environmentally sensitive development is improving quality of life, according to the new publication This Is Smart Growth, released today by EPA, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and 30 other organizations. All 32 organizations are partners in the Smart Growth Network, a highly diverse alliance that works to encourage development practices that improve the environment, the economy, public health, and the community.
Featuring 40 localities around the country, This Is Smart Growth illustrates how communities can use smart growth techniques that improve the quality of development. It shows how communities have made tax dollars go farther by reducing the cost of services and infrastructure and offering people more transportation choices. It also shows how communities have protected natural lands, farms and ranches; created safe, convenient neighborhoods with homes people can afford; and boosted public health by reducing pollution and increasing opportunities for walking, biking, and other forms of physical activity. Download a free copy of the report at http://www.smartgrowth.org.
New Guide Highlights Incentives for Agriculture Water Quality Trading
By selling the amounts of nutrients or sediment reduced by conservation practices, agricultural producers are finding opportunities to get paid for stewardship activities through water quality trading. A new manual, Getting Paid for Stewardship: An Agricultural Community Water Quality Trading Guide, helps interested partners get started. The guide has information for producers who want to develop a trading program in their watershed, provides a basic understanding of trading and includes contact information.
Produced under an EPA cooperative agreement with the Conservation Technology Information Center, the guide is intended for agriculture advisers and/or technical service providers. Copies of the document can be found on the web at: http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/watershed/trading.htm.
Webcasts
EPA's Watershed Academy to sponsor Oct.11th Webcast on Getting Started in Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
. Registration for this Webcast will open on Oct. 4th. Please visit www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts for additional information.
The Nov. 29th Webcast, Protecting Drinking Water Sources:Assessments and Opportunities, will feature Beth Hall from EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water; Chris Crockett, Technical Advisory Work Group Chair for American Water Works Association and Manager of Watershed Protection for the Philadelphia Water Department; and Sheree Stewart, Source Water Coordinator, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Registration will open in mid-Nov. Please note that audio versions of past Webcasts are available for downloading at: www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts. Be sure to check out these free training seminars featuring national watershed experts!
Outreach and Education
Stream Ecosystem Restoration Training Series (SERTS), October 23-27, 2006
This one week short course is a collaborative effort of The River Institute and a group of multidisciplinary professionals. This training will provide participants with an advanced look at the fundamental set of skills applicable to stream restoration including biology, hydraulic engineering, fluvial geomorphology, applied design techniques and monitoring. This is an advanced course with experts in the restoration field who will provide field experiments and validation exercises. This course is meant for ecologists, regulators, professional engineers and environmental scientists who have a basic understanding of stream restoration principals including bioassessment, biocriteria and Rosgen Stream Classification and who are looking for that next step in developing and reviewing stream restoration projects that incorporate natural channel design principals in order to meet an improved water quality standard. Space is limited to government employees (federal, state or local) and to the first 30 participants. For more information visit http://riverinstitute.org/home.html.[broken link]
State of River Restoration Practice, a River Ecosystem Restoration Forum, November 15 & 16, 2006, Powell, Ohio
This 2-day forum will focus on real world solutions for stream restoration projects in the Midwest. Practitioners will present successes, failures and findings from on-the-ground examples. The forum will provide a place for technology transfer and invite discussions on a variety of topics including natural channel design, dam removal, chemical water quality improvement, overwide ditches, 2-stage ditches, in-stream habitat and the use of biocriteria to evaluate success. For more information visit http://riverinstitute.org/home.html.[broken link]
Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
NPDES Permit Writers’ Training Course, October 23rd-27th, 2006, Woodbridge, Virginia. The objective of the course is to provide the basic regulatory framework and technical considerations that support the development of wastewater discharge permits as required under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Program. This free course is designed for new permit writers. Contact Betty Peterson at npdescourse@tetratech-ffx.com.National Beaches Conference, October 11th-13th, 2006, Niagara Falls, NY. This 3-day conference is sponsored by EPA in collaboration with the Great Lakes Beach Association. It will provide a national framework for discussion of beach water quality issues, exchange of information, and coordination of efforts in research and decision making. For more information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/OST/beaches/.
2006 Watershed Institute, October 23rd-26th, 2006, Deer Creek Resort and Conference Center, Columbus, OH. The Center for Watershed Protection has designed the 2006 Watershed Institute to equip watershed professionals with the tools needed to develop comprehensive watershed plans. This intensive, interactive four-day program will focus on prioritizing funding and staff, field and desktop methods for completing watershed plans, interpreting and integrating data and practical resources to affect change in the community. For complete details, visit http://www.cwp.org/WI06/wi06info.html.[broken link]
9th Annual Wetlands and Watersheds Workshop October 23rd-26th, 2006, Atlantic City, NJ. The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists will join the 9th Annual Wetlands and Watershed Workshop this year. The workshop focuses on managing aquatic systems through the watershed approach and will address such as issues as stormwater management, flood management through watershed protection, water quality and public health as it relates to wetland mitigation, the technical/political consequences of wetlands being 303(d) listed, the fate and transport of contaminants and the use of Best Management Practices to protect existing wetlands. To find out more information regarding this workshop and for registration materials please visit http://www.wetlandsworkgroup.org.
AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference November 6th-9th, 2006, Baltimore, MD. For more than 40 years, the AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference has been the place that water resources professionals from all levels of government, academia, and the private sector representing fields as diverse as agricultural hydrology to GIS to wetlands management. AWRA creates an open forum for sharing, discussion, and solving water resources challenges. This year's conference offers pre-conference workshops and field trips, more than 60 technical sessions with over 240 paper presentations, five panel presentations, posters, exhibits, and an Evening at the Baltimore National Aquarium. For more information, please go to http://www.awra.org/meetings/Baltimore2006/. [broken link]
Chesapeake Watershed Forum, November 17th-19th, 2006, U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV. This first annual Forum will assist watershed organizations and local governments in watershed planning, protection and restoration.The Forum will feature five Tracks with multiple sessions, including a session on EPA’s Key Watershed Internet Tools. Tracks will include: 1) Organizational capacity building and fundraising; 2) Communication the message; 3) Science, technical tools and practices for watershed management; 4) Planning, policies and programs for watershed management; and 5) Collaboration-how to work together and achieve successful watershed management. In addition to the tracks, labs, seminars, networking events and field trips are planned. For more information, visit http://www.alliancechesbay.org/
or contact Lou Etgen at letgen@acb-online.org or 410-377-6270.
AWRA 2007 Spring Specialty Conference – 3rd National Water Resources Policy Dialogue January 22-23, 2007, Arlington, VA. The First and Second National Water Resources Policy Dialogues brought together water resources experts from around the Nation to focus on the policy needs of the Nation. The Third Dialogue will build on the results of these Dialogues with the aim of providing decision makers with guidance in the formulation and development of water resources policies attuned to societal needs and preferences. At the conclusion of the Third Dialogue, an after-action report will be prepared that will be distributed widely within the Administration, the Congress, the Nation's Governors and the attendees of the Dialogue. For more information, visit http://www.awra.org/meetings/DC2007/index.html. [broken link]
Be sure to check our EPA's new Watershed Discussion Forum! [broken link] This new on-line message board offers watershed practitioners and citizens a platform to exchange ideas, so that innovative solutions and ideas can be easily shared. Please visit http://www.epa.gov/watershedforum/ [broken link] and join in! Anyone can view the discussion, but one must register to post messages.
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