| Runoff Rundown Community Watershed Spotlight: South River Federation One of the greatest challenges in managing watersheds is that they cross jurisdictional boundaries, governmental regulations, and local politics. The Center believes that one of the best management structures to address watershed needs is the local watershed organization. These organizations are unbridled by jurisdictional boundaries and can provide a voice for the watershed usually unfiltered by politics or special interests. You may have noticed in recent issues that we've identified many of our project clients as a "Community Watershed." The Center designed the Community Watersheds program with the belief that, with some technical and organizational guidance, small watershed organizations can play a key role in local watershed management and, collectively, in regional water resource protection and restoration. The Community Watersheds program assists these organizations in gaining the technical capacity to improve their watershed restoration and protection efforts. Each project involves training elements for watershed organizations in order to help them develop the self-sufficiency and technical skills necessary for assessing and interpreting their watersheds. For example, as part of each project the Center trains and involves organization staff and volunteers in the assessment of their watersheds. This gives them the tools to identify potential projects to improve watershed conditions and the knowledge to partner with local governments and other entities in restoration and education projects. Some of the watershed associations that have been a part of this program in the last year include the James River Association in Virginia, the Spa Creek Conservancy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Port Tobacco River Conservancy in southern Maryland, and both the Beaver Creek Watershed and the Antietam Watershed Associations, who work on tributaries to Antietam Creek in Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. Our longest Community Watershed partnership, and quite possibly our most successful to date, has been with the South River Federation (SRF), based near Annapolis, Maryland. The Center has been working with SRF for over three years to create a watershed action plan for the 55-square mile watershed just south of Annapolis. In that time, SRF has grown from an all-volunteer operation to having three full-time staff including a Riverkeeper, Drew Koslow. Funding for the plan has been provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program. Together with SRF staff and volunteers, the Center performed field assessments for the entire watershed and is crafting a South River Watershed Action Plan to help guide future restoration and protection efforts in the watershed. From these efforts, SRF staff are now experienced in identifying stormwater retrofits, defining unstable stream reaches and identifying pollution prevention opportunities at marinas, gas stations, nurseries and other potential stormwater hotspots. Koslow stated that with the "direction and technical assistance from Center staff," the SRF has not only been able to assess conditions and identify priority restoration efforts, but that "perhaps the most important help we have received is the staff training that will help us deliver our new information to local government and to potential funders." In the last few years, SRF has planted over a million oysters in the South River, stabilized several thousand feet of eroding shoreline using natural designs, worked to secure funding for stormwater retrofit projects and an important fish passage project, and removed several tons of trash from the watershed. Many of these projects were identified during the fieldwork for the watershed action plan. The final watershed plan is expected to be completed by the end of May after a second stakeholder meeting and additional input from a technical advisory team. For more information about SRF, visit their website at http://www.southriverfederation.net. |