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What's in Your Watershed

A case study and guide to the Banklick Creek Watershed analysis and issue characterization for education and outreach.

Watershed councils are proliferating across the country and are taking on important tasks: protecting and improving water quality; monitoring and mitigating water quantity; educating the public and decision-makers; building consensus and creating advocacy for water and related natural resources; and guiding and implementing projects in a watershed, among many others. A watershed crosses political boundaries and public and private land ownerships; therefore, a watershed council must have access to much information in order toact as a forum for making watershed-based decisions.

This case study looks at how urban, rural, and riparian forests are critical to protecting water quality and reducing flooding in watersheds. Sustainable urban forest ecosystems provide benefits to not only the waters of a community, but also to the overall quality of life. Trees are a community's green infrastructure, yet watershed councils are often unaware of how much of a role urban forests play in providing watershed benefits.

Watershed councils can make valuable contributions by working to improve the urban forests and ecological health of communities. However, often they lack the professional guidance and expertise to determine precisely how much of an impact forests make, how to prioritize their actions with limited funding, and how to communicate this information effectively. Councils often need assistance to identify what significant issues are present in the watershed and how to formulate possible solutions to address the ecological issues.

This effort may seem daunting, especially to newly formed watershed councils. Where do councils begin? One of the best places to start is with the facts. Therefore, this manual was designed to document a process for gathering factual information on watershed characteristics and assessing the value of urban, rural, and riparian forests in water resources and watershed management. The manual also presents a protocol for determining how ecological and citizen-based priorities, as well as developing effective communication and educational toolsand strategies.

The use of the information provided as a result of this project may be used by watershed councils in many valuable ways:

Developing watershed management, strategic, and action plans

Assisting with organizational development

Initiating immediate positive impacts in the watershed

Identifying networking opportunities and developing alliances

Educating the public about watershed issues

Authors
Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission

Date Published
December 2004

Publisher

Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission

Mitchell, KY

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