Watershed Conservation Plan
What is it?
Conservation Benefits
- Improve or maintain healthy upland, riparian, and aquatic habitat
- Protection of native species biodiversity
- Improve or maintain watershed connectivity
- Improve or maintain appropriate hydrologic conditions for biota
Who is involved?
A Watershed Conservation Plan should be developed through the cooperation of watershed stakeholders under the guidance of technical experts like Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Collaboration and consensus is important among stakeholders and agencies in order to fully address potential and identified concerns within the watershed. This collaboration will also facilitate discussion and selection of best management practices to address those issues.During the early planning stages of developing a Watershed Conservation Plan, it is important to consider a wide diversity of potential stakeholders. Stakeholders involved in the process should represent a wide breadth of interests in the watershed including but not limited to residents within the watershed, property owners, recreational enthusiasts, businesses, municipal, state/federal agencies, and non-governmental conservation organizations. If a broad variety of interests are represented, the plan is likely to include a wide range of conservation issues that can then be addressed by adopting appropriate BMPs. Diverse stakeholder involvement also helps to facilitate recognition and involvement with the watershed community.
What does it include?
Watershed Conservation Plans typically have three stages. These stages focus on identifying issues and concerns within the watershed, developing an action plan to address those issues and selection of BMPs to implement the action plan.
- Stage 1
- Gather and analyze information and data
- Define challenges and opportunities
- Develop objectives
- Stage 2
- Develop an action plan for addressing the objectives
- Select the best watershed management alternatives
- List strategies for implementing alternatives and determine how to measure progress
- Stage 3
- Implement and evaluate actions