2003 Watershed Summaries

Targeted Watersheds Under the 2003 Watershed Initiative

Print Version (PDF, 86KB)

Click on hot links below to access two-page summaries of the 2003 Targeted Watersheds Grant Projects.

Meduxnekeag River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Meduxnekeag River Watershed is located in Maine and is home to the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. With EPA Watershed Initiative funding the tribe will be able to start many different projects, such as: implementing a cost-share program with potato farmers, identifying illicit sewer connections, and developing cost-share programs for removal of improper sewer connections.

Narragansett Bay (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Narragansett Bay Watershed is located in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Partnership for Narragansett Bay has a longstanding mission to create an ecologically and economically viable future for Narragansett Bay and Coastal Rhode Island. With funding from the Watershed Initiative the Partnership for Narragansett Bay can embark on activities to implement stormwater BMPs for erosion and nutrient control, and plant eelgrass in estuaries to reduce nutrient runoff in Narragansett Bay.

Charles River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.6MB)
The Charles River Watershed Association is slated to receive funding, under the EPA Watershed Initiative to help in their efforts to protect and revitalize the Charles River. Formed in 1965, the Charles River Watershed Association is one of the country's first watershed organizations. This organization plans to use funding to investigate feasibility for using instream flow for pollution trading, restoration of fisheries, installation of rainwater retention systems for homeowners, collect samples and use DNA database to determine sources of bacteria pollution, and start a stormwater education program.

Raritan River Basin (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The 1,100 square-mile Raritan River Basin, located in north central New Jersey, covers an area that is home to 1.2 million people and 11 sub-watersheds. The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, working with the New Jersey Water Supply Authority and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, will use its grant to implement a three-pronged strategy to restore the basin. Their results-based initiative focuses on stream restoration and stabilization; riparian area protection; stormwater and non-point source pollution prevention management; implementing new municipal ordinances and promoting road salting controls throughout the region.

Susquehanna Headwaters (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Susquehanna Headwaters is located in New York and Pennsylvania. Using Watershed Initiative funds, the Upper Susquehanna Coalition will continue its efforts to improve water quality by reducing sediment and nutrient loading in the river basin. Monies will be used for developing a database to target sites, implement a wetland restoration program, build county coalitions to support community needs, design a riparian buffer initiative, train local groups in stream restoration using natural stream design, assess possible erosion, conduct ditch restoration demonstrations, and establish a college internship program.

The Christina River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Christina River is an important resource to the people of Pennsylvania and Delaware. This river has been selected to receive Watershed Initiative funding to support the health and restoration of the river. The lead watershed group for this river, that will be awarded the funding, is the Christina Basin Partnership. This watershed group plans to use grant money to restore and protect the river by implementing agricultural and stormwater Best Management Practices in targeted areas of the river, and implement SMARTYARD homeowner landscape projects.

Dunkard Creek (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Dunkard Creek Watershed is located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Dunkard Creek supports warm water fisheries in almost the entire stream, which has been devastated by drainage from abandoned coalmines. Watershed Initiative grants will be awarded to the Greene County Watershed Alliance. The Watershed Alliance will use the funding for the restoration of abandoned mine drain streams, bird and bat habitat improvements, solid waste removal, and public outreach.

Upper Tennessee River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.8MB)
The Upper Tennessee River Watershed, which covers over 2,004,108 acres, serves as an important resource to Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The Upper Tennessee River Roundtable will receive Watershed Initiative funding to address some of the issues and concerns of water quality and restoration is this region. Some of the planned projects include: implementation of recycling program, construction of stormwater management structures, implementation of species protection BMPs in creeks, and several streambank and wetland restoration projects.

Cumberland River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.6MB)
The Cumberland River watershed covers 18,000 square miles and is home to almost 2 million people in Tennessee and Kentucky. The EPA will award Watershed Initiative funding to the Cumberland River Compact. The Cumberland River Compact has set out to enhance the water quality of the Cumberland River and its tributaries through education and by promoting cooperation among citizens, businesses, and agencies in Kentucky and Tennessee since 1997. The Cumberland River Compact will use funding to conduct sediment and stream bank loss data collection to establish a base line, implement rural and urban Best Management Practices, and institute several site-specific Best Management Practice demonstration projects.

Great Miami River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Great Miami River Watershed is located in the southwest portion of Ohio. The Miami Conservancy District is a regional government agency that provides flood protection, water resource monitoring and information, and recreational opportunities for the community within the Great Miami River Watershed. Watershed Initiative funds will go toward four major projects in the watershed. These projects include: a cost-share program to farmers who adopt nutrient and sediment best management practices, cost-share program to homeowners to upgrade and repair failing septic systems, constructing 2-stage drainage ditches, and implementation of local sustainable watershed management strategies.

Greater Blue Earth (PDF, 2 pp., 1.6MB)
The Greater Blue Earth Watershed is located in Minnesota and Iowa. The lead watershed group for this watershed is the Three Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council. The council will be awarded Watershed Initiative funding to conduct several projects including: restoration of 5 wetlands, organization crop insurance for farmers, providing cost-share to landowners to install riparian buffers, organizing educational awareness projects, and promoting existing agricultural conservation programs.

Manistee River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Manistee River Watershed is located in Michigan. This river is home to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, which is a tribe of 2600 members. The river provides important resources, which are vital to the survival of these people. EPA will award the tribe Watershed Initiative grant money to support their efforts to restore and monitor the water quality of the Manistee River. Planed projects include: repairing road and stream crossings, stream bank stabilization, extensive monitoring, habitat inventories, invertebrate surveys, fish assessment, and a sturgeon spawning site reclamation project.

Rio Puerco Watershed (PDF, 2 pp., 1.5MB)
The Rio Puerco Watershed is located in northwest New Mexico. The lead organization for this watershed is the Rio Puerco Management Committee, which is a congressionally mandated collaborative committee charted in 1997 to tackle the many environmental problems of this watershed. Funding from the EPA's Watershed Initiative will enable the Committee to go forward with many projects including: upland and in-channel stream restoration, altering channel flow and topography, implementing livestock grazing management practices, and programs to educate the public.

Bayou Bartholomew (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Bayou Bartholomew Watershed is located in Arkansas. EPA's Watershed Initiative will award a grant to Winrock International. The grant will help this group continue their efforts in monitoring and restoring the water quality of the Bayou Bartholomew. The group plans to develop an innovative environmental assets trading program, implement and assess impact on land use, collect stream morphology data, establish continuous monitoring station, and develop protection program for mussels.

Rathbun Lake (PDF, 2 pp., 1.5MB)
The Rathbun Lake Watershed is located in Iowa and is represented by the Rathbun Land and Water Alliance. The Alliance is a cooperative effort that fosters a voluntary approach driven by landowners, water users, and public/private organizations to protect and enhance land, water, and economic resources in the Rathbun region. With funding from the EPA's Watershed Initiative many projects will be carried out in the watershed. Some of these projects include: implementing agriculture Best Management Practices, assessing sub-watersheds for Best Management Practice development, promoting farmer enrollment in watershed protection enhancement agreements, demonstrating market-based forage and livestock production practices, and conducting water monitoring.

Upper White (PDF, 2 pp., 1.8MB)
The Upper White River Basin is home to over a million people in 21 counties in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri, covering an area of over 14,000 square miles. The basin is among the most rapidly growing areas in Missouri and Arkansas. Watershed Initiative funding will be awarded to the Upper White River Basin Foundation to continue their efforts in addressing the problem of decreasing water quality along the Upper White. Specifically the group plans to use funding to integrate separate watershed plans, provide organizational capacity building, implement an innovative on-site wastewater system demonstration, and conduct monitoring with GIS applications for targeting critical areas.

The Clark Fork-Pend Oreille (PDF, 2 pp., 1.6MB)
This 26,000 square mile watershed covers Montana's largest river basin, the Clark Fork, and Idaho's largest freshwater lake, Pend Oreille. Four watershed groups in Montana, tribal interests in the Flathead basin, and the Tri-State Water Quality Council operating in Idaho have partnered to address nutrient pollution through a combination of activities outlined in existing watershed plans. Projects will expand participation in voluntary nutrient reduction programs, implement stream and habitat restoration using agricultural Best Management Practices, reduce lake nutrient and sediment loading along tribal lands, and institute comprehensive monitoring systems to analyze and report trends.

Upper South Platte (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Upper South Platte watershed contains over 1.2 million acres of public lands, provides municipal water for about 75% of Colorado's residents, and is home to many threatened and endangered species. The watershed has recently been hit by extensive wildfires, including the 2002 Hayman fire, resulting in massive sedimentation in the South Platte and its tributaries. The Coalition will use Watershed Initiative funding to provide organizational capacity building, to enhance post-fire recovery and restoration efforts, to protect remaining unimpaired streams and wetlands, and to promote volunteer driven restoration and clean-up efforts.

Hanalei Bay (PDF, 2 pp., 1.7MB)
The Hanalei Bay River is one of the largest rivers in the state of Hawaii and has nurtured agricultural crops since ancient times. Watershed Initiative funding will be awarded the Hanalei Heritage River Program to support local efforts for ecologic restoration, community development and historic and cultural preservation. Planned projects include: cesspool replacement, exclusion fencing, erosion control BMP implementation, and monitoring.

Lower Columbia River (PDF, 2 pp., 1.6MB)
The Lower Columbia River flows through the states of Oregon and Washington. The Lower Columbia River and Estuary Partnership is a watershed group that works to protect and restore the lower Columbia River estuary. The group provides on-the-ground improvements and education information programs to the region of the Lower Columbia River. With Watershed Initiative assistance the Lower Columbia River and Estuary Partnership plans to complete a stream restoration project and wetland restoration project in both Washington and Oregon, and implement habitat monitoring protocols.

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2003 Watershed Summaries

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