La Moine River Ecosystem Partnership: Organizing for Success

1
La Moine River Ecosystem PartnershipOrganizing
for Success

• Dan Moorehouse
• Jeff Boeckler

2
INGREDIENTS for a PLAN

• Outreach to community
• Diversity
• Organize
• Opinion Survey
• Technical committee
• Put the science together

3
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
4
Watershed Surveys

• Watershed Opinion Survey
• Focus Groups
• Landowner Survey
• Local Environmental Educator Survey

5
Watershed Bus Tour
6

• Features
• Mostly rural
• Pop 68,000
• Historically
• 50 Prairie
• 50 Forest
• 6th largest tributary to the Illinois River

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
Citizen Science
10
THE PLAN
Community Involvement
Technical Committee (Science)
Landowner Survey
Watershed Opinion Survey
Environmental Educator Survey
Landowner education
Goal Development
Willing Landowners
Partner Organizations
Publicity
Partnership Formation
11
Putting the plan into action
Money
People
Projects
Ideas
Implement
12
FOREST GAP RESTORATION PROJECT
13
Projects with other Organizations

• Problem Soil Erosion
• Getting funds to landowners to install BMPs
• Partners LMREP, SWCD, and WIU
• Funding
• C2000, IEPA 319

14
Introduction

• Organizing for Success
• La Moine River Ecosystem Partnership
• Success stories and why
• Challenges and resources
• Current Projects
• 319, CREP
• Watershed Planning
• Process
• Project Example Putting the plan into action

15
La Moine River Watershed Management Plan

• Issues and concerns
• Identified through a series of meetings in the
  watershed
• Identified water quality impairments and other
  watershed problems
• Prioritized concerns that the partnership will
  address
• Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Action Items
• The who, what, and how of the plan
• Developed out of issues and concerns identified
  by the data and stakeholder meetings
• Physical and biological resource inventory
• For each of the 62 subwatersheds, collected and
  analyzed all data pertaining to a particular sub
  basin

16
La Moine River Watershed Management Plan

• Social Inventory
• Conducted resident survey, teacher survey, and
  willing landowner survey
• Collected other demographic data such as
  households
• Priority subwatersheds
• The where
• Identified priority watersheds

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
La Moine River Watershed Management Plan

• Identified Best Management Practices or
  implementation strategies
• Location, type, and load reductions for each and
  every possible BMP
• Location of sites in need of protection
• Location of high quality areas

21
Best Management PracticesPollutant Load
Reduction Model

• In priority restoration, water quality, and
  erosion subwatersheds
• Digitized the location and extent of potential
  BMPs
• Buffer strips, filter strips, grass waterways,
  dry dams, wetlands, forest restoration,
  streambank stabilization, and prairie restoration

22
(No Transcript)
23
Best Management PracticesPollutant Load
Reduction Model

• Purpose
• To identify specific projects and project
  locations and to quantify anticipated
  environmental benefits
• To provide direction and options for focusing
  project implementation in areas where it will
  have the most benefit
• To match areas of stakeholder concern with actual
  locations on-the-ground

24
(No Transcript)
25
Best Management PracticesPollutant Load
Reduction Model

• Limitations
• Limited to a selection of BMPs where literature
  sited removal efficiencies
• Pollutant loads based on averages and estimates
  (but better than nothing)
• I tried to use the most recent and most reliable
  data
• Based on interpreting aerial photos
• Actual locations and current site conditions may
  or may not warrant the particular BMP

26
Putting the Plan Into Action

• Project Example Livestock Management Project
• Identified Willing Landowners located in
  priority subwatersheds and those sites where
  BMPs would have the highest load reductions
• Contacted landowners and arranged site visit
• Evaluated site and drafted project scope
• Verified that the primary stakeholder concerns
  and year one objectives we met by project
• Identified funding programs and drafted grant
  application

27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
Putting the Plan Into Action

• Project Example Livestock Management Project
• Livestock fencing, crossings, pasture management,
  watering system, wetland and riparian zone
  restoration, streambank stabilization, upland
  erosion control, modeling
• Funding sources NRCS EQIP, SSRP, C2000, Trees
  Forever

30
Questions / Comments?