Watersheds

Wetlands are a part of a larger watershed context. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water is somehow connected to each other (above ground or underground) in a water system made up of a tributary of headwater streams, different kinds of wetlands, lakes or ponds (or both), rivers, creeks and/or major streams, flowing into another water body, possibly a large lake, large river, or ocean. Often when wetland managers talk about protecting wetlands, they are also considering the watershed (streams, lakes, ponds, other waters, ocean) that are part of the bigger picture. There are resources and publications related to watersheds.

It is like water seeping – into the most unexpected places, rising, falling, rising, filling the basins of the human heart.– Terry Tempest Williams

ASWM PUBLICATIONS & RESOURCES

Common Questions: Establishing Local Government Wetlands and Watershed Management Programs – June 2006
By Jon Kusler, Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc.

Multi-Objective Wetland Restoration in Watershed Contexts – November 2004
By Jon Kusler, Ph.D., Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS & RESOURCES

Report: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Water and Wetlands – February 2013
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)

2015 EO Progress Report Update on FLC’s Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – May 2016
Federal Leadership Committee (FLC) for the Chesapeake Bay

Fundamentals of Urban Runoff Management – July 2007
North American Lake Management Society

A Local Ordinance to Protect Wetland Functions – December 2007
Wetlands and Watersheds Article #4 (in a Six-part Series) - Center for Watershed Protection - Prepared for the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, EPA. Authors: Beth Strommen, Karen Cappiella, David Hirschman, and Julie Tasillo.

LINKS & RESOURCES

The Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network

Land Trust Community Wetland & Stream Mitigation Guide

Wetland and Stream Mitigation: A Handbook for Land Trusts – September 2012

American Rivers: Most Endangered Rivers

For more about the report and to find previous reports, click here.

EPA Website on Incorporating Wetland Restoration and Protection in Planning Documents

EPA Website Resources on Nutrient Pollution

EPA website on Nutrient Pollution Policy and Data

EPA website on nutrient pollution for homeowners, students, and educators.

EPA Website on Healthy Watersheds: Protecting Aquatic Systems through Landscape Approaches

EPA Website on Sustainable Water Infrastructure