1

Watershed Planning Basics

Emily VailHudson River Estuary Program,

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

NYS Water Resources Institute

at Cornell University

May 19, 2016

2

Presentation Outline

Hudson River Estuary Program

Regional watershed issues

Why watershed planning?

What does a watershed plan

look like?

What are the key steps?

Case Studies: Quassaick

Creek & Wappinger Creek

What can you do next?

3

Hudson River Estuary Program

Six Benefits:

Clean water

Resilient communities

Vital estuary ecosystem

Estuary fish, wildlife, and

their habitats

Scenic river landscape

Education, river access,

recreation, and inspiration

4

Hudson River

Estuary Watershed

Albany

New York City

Hudson River Estuary

watershed = 5,300 mi2

Catskill Creek

watershed = 415 mi2

(3rd largest sub-watershed)

Catskill

Creek

5

What is a watershed?

The land area that drains to a

common body of water

Geographic feature

Includes political, and social

boundaries

Scalable

Map courtesy of Greene

County Soil & Water

Conservation District

6

What is a watershed?

The land area that drains to a

common body of water

Geographic feature

Includes political, and social

boundaries

Scalable

Map courtesy of Greene

County Soil & Water

Conservation District

7

Map courtesy of Cornell

Cooperative Extension

Dutchess County

Watershed

Assessments

and Plans

8

Why watershed planning?

Protect healthy streams

Restore impaired waters

Drinking water,

swimming, fishing,

recreation, wildlife,

scenery, flooding…

Photo by Larry Federman

9

Watershed issues – Water Quality

Sediment

Nutrients

Heavy metals

Road salt

Sewage

Pesticides

Oil and grease

Trash Photo by Liz LoGiudice

10

Watershed issues – Water Quantity

Flooding

Erosion

Droughts

Low base

flow in

streams

Photos by Liz LoGiudice

11

Watershed issues – Habitat

Aquatic connectivity

Terrestrial connectivity

Invasive species

12

Watershed issues – Trends

Development

Climate change

Watershed

resiliency

Hurricane Irene -

Photos by Liz

LoGiudice

13

Why watershed planning?

Brings together stakeholders

(including municipalities)

Consolidates information

Unified approach, communities

work together across the watershed

Creates a shared vision, builds

consensus

Identifies strategies & projects

Helps justify grants and other fundingPhoto by Liz LoGiudice

14

Types of watershed plans

Total Maximum Daily Load – TMDL/303(d) list

Reduce loads of a pollutant in impaired watersheds

Example: Chesapeake Bay

EPA 9 element watershed plan

Similar to TMDL, but more of a planning process

Example: Genesee River

15

Types of watershed plans

DOS watershed plan

Example: Quassaick Creek

Can focus on particular

subwatershed or issue

Example: Lower Esopus Creek

River Reconnaissance Report

Geomorphic assessment,

flooding Map from Lower Esopus Creek River

Reconnaissance Report Appendix

16

At the end of the planning process…

Group of stakeholders on board to work on issues/priorities

Maps and other representations of existing information

Understand information gaps

Prioritized, specific, and strategic actions to improve

watershed health

17

Priorities from Catskill Creek Summit (10/15/15)

Challenges:

Flooding, erosion,

sedimentation

Education

Protecting habitat

Infrastructure

Opportunities:

Recreation

Education

Tourism

Habitat protection

Planning, zoning,

comprehensive plans

18

What are the key steps?

Delineate a watershed (appropriate scale)

Bring together stakeholders

Compile existing data

Prioritize issues

Create goals

Specify actions

Implement the plan!

Measure progress and adapt if necessary

19

Delineate a watershed

Catskill Creek watershed

~40 miles long, 415 mi2

watershed

16 municipalities

4 counties

USGS watershed delineations

DEC waterbody segments

Map courtesy Greene

County Soil & Water

Conservation District

20

Bring together stakeholders

Municipalities

Government agencies

Academic institutions

Non-profits

City and regional planners

Community groups

Property-owners

Businesses

Developers Photo from Hudson River Watershed Alliance

21

Compile existing data

Physical characteristics

Water quality

Water quantity

Land use/land cover

Habitat

Water infrastructure

Demographics & other social data

Local laws

Previous plans

People are important

resources, too!

22

Identify gaps & prioritize issues

What additional information is

needed?

Can use planning process to

conduct studies or have a

priority project in the plan to

address the needs

Are there priority locations or

issues to focus on?

Photo by Liz LoGiudice

23

Specify actions to improve conditions

Watershed vision -> more specific goals -> objectives

Each project should have specific location, partners and

(ideally) funding source identified

Implement the plan!

24

Measure progress and adapt

What are you measuring?

(indicators)

How do you know if

conditions are improving?

Adaptive management

Photo by Liz LoGiudice

25

Warning!

Don’t discount stakeholders

Don’t be overly general

Don’t take on too much, too quickly

Don’t keep the plan on the shelf

Don’t spend all your energy on planning

26

Don’t wait for a plan!

Trees for Tribs

Culvert Project

Implement green infrastructure

Natural Resource Inventories

Climate Smart Communities

Water quality assessments with

WAVE

Community clean ups

Trees for Tribs at Bayard Elsbree Park

27

Quassaick Creek Case Study

56 mi2

2 counties and 5 munis

Funding - DOS, Orange

County Water Authority

Watershed Management Plan

54 recommendations

10 priority actions

2 year process (2012-2014)

28

Quassaick Creek Case Study

Quassaick Creek Watershed Management Recommendations

29

What can we learn from the Quassaick?

High-capacity advisory committee

Municipalities participated, planning depts

from both counties

Leveraged funds to fill gaps

Plan is specific

Plan is being implemented

Quassaick Creek Watershed

Alliance continued their work

30

The mouth of the Creek at the

New Hamburg Train Station

The headwaters of the Creek at

Thompson Pond, Pine Plains, NY

• 210 mi2

• Dutchess County – 12 municipalities

• Rural, suburban, & urban land use

DUTCHESS COUNTY

Wappinger Creek Case Study

31

Wappinger Lake

• NYS 303d list of impaired

waterbodies

• TMDL = Total Maximum Daily Load

Wappinger Lake

32

Wappinger Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council

• Began as Wappinger Creek Watershed Planning Committee (1995)

• Natural Resource Mgmt Plan(1995-1999)

• Water quality study: (Summer 97 – Spring 2000)

• Community Leadership Alliance(May 1999)

• Formed Intermunicipal Council(first meeting 1/2001, signed IMA 6/2004)

Participants of the CLA Meeting – May 1999

33

StructureCouncil Membership

2 representatives per member municipality (Supervisor/Mayor & other)

One vote per member municipality (13)

Ex-officio & Volunteer members(non-voting)

• CCEDC, DCSWCD, County Planning, HREP, etc…

Meets Quarterly

Working Group

Advisory & Volunteer Committee

Meets monthly

Bylaws

Establish a chair, vice-chair & secretary

Goals

Tree for Tribs Planting

at Greenvale Park,

Poughkeepsie, NY

Recognition by Senator Gipson

and Assemblywoman Barrett

34

Accomplishments• Better Site Design Roundtables

• Stakeholder Survey of municipal leaders and

residents with Cornell University faculty

on beliefs, perceptions and practices related to water quality

• Wappinger Creek Week & Watershed Awareness

Month 2009 – 2012

• Outreach materials, publications & presentations

• Monitoring Study of stream temperature in

tributaries

• Designation of Inland Waterway

• Shared Service Grants

• DOS Local Waterfront Revitalization Grant

Educating residents at the Picnic in the

Park celebration

Monitoring in

Hunns Lake Creek

35

Resources

Hudson River Estuary Program – Grants and technical

assistance

NYS Dept of State – guidebook

EPA – Occasional grants, resources

Hudson River Watershed Alliance - Examples of

watershed plans

Center for Watershed Protection - Resources on planning

36

What you can do

What is your goal?

Review existing watershed plans

Model to replicate? Lessons learned?

Who should be at the table?

What issues are most important in your watershed?

What data are available?

Where are there existing plans?

Where are there gaps?

37

In summary…

Watershed planning brings

people together, helps

come to consensus on

strategic next steps to

improve watershed health

Depends on local priorities

Grants & other resources

available

Photo by Jeff Anzevino

38

Thank You!

Emily Vail

Watershed Outreach Specialist

Hudson River Estuary Program

emily.vail@dec.ny.gov

(845) 256-3145

Connect with us:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NYSDEC

Twitter: twitter.com/NYSDEC

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/nysdec

Carolyn Klocker

Sr. Water Resource Educator

Cornell Cooperative Extension

Dutchess County

cak97@cornell.edu

845-677-8223, ext. 135