Workshop Summary

How to prepare Watershed Management and Protection Plans
January 19, 2007
Rutgers EcoComplex, Bordentown, New Jersey

The objective of this workshop was to provide a comprehensive introduction to watershed restoration and protection planning to a diverse audience of stakeholders in New Jersey while interjecting relevant examples and perspectives from invited guests. On October 2005 the United States Environmental Protection Agency published a draft of the Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters. The workshop segments followed the format of the Handbook.

A variety of stakeholder groups were represented in the audience of the workshop:

Stakeholders groups represented

• Private consultants
• New Jersey Department of Agriculture
• Higher education
• Watershed associations
• Other non-governmental organizations
• United States Environmental Protection Agency
• Division of Watershed Management
• Office of Research and Development
• Region 2
• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
• Bureau of Watershed Planning
• Bureau of Environmental Analysis and Restoration
• County government
• Conservation districts
• Watershed Ambassadors
• Municipal government

The participants from these stakeholder groups represented watersheds from areas in North, South, and Central New Jersey, including:

Watersheds represented:

• Great Egg Harbor
• Pompeston Creek
• Raritan River
• Barnegat Bay
• Upper Delaware
• Lower Delaware
• Neshanic River
• Wallkill River
• Navesink River
• Manasquan River
• Swimming River
• Norwalk River
• Whippany River
• …And others

Total number of attendees: Approximately 90

The EPA "Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters" is available at http://www.epa.gov/nps/watershed_handbook.

8:00 – 8:30 Check-in and continental breakfast

8:30 – 8:50 Opening remarks

Welcome, David Specca, Director, Rutgers EcoComplex

Introduction, Christopher Obropta, Assistant Extension Specialist, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

8:50 – 10:00 USEPA and NJDEP Perspectives

Stuart Lehman, Assessment and Watershed Protection Division, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Watershed Planning Tools and an Integrated Watershed Approach

Kenneth Klipstein, Chief, Bureau of Watershed Planning, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Watershed Restoration and Protection Plans in New Jersey

Characterizing Your Watershed

10:00 – 10:20 Finding Data Gaps: compiling and interpreting existing data

Christopher Obropta, Assistant Extension Specialist, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Finding Data Gaps: Compiling and Interpreting Existing Data
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s):5 & 6

10:20 – 10:30 Break

10:30 - 10:40 Collecting New Watershed Data

Christopher Obropta, Assistant Extension Specialist, Rutgers Cooperative Extension
Collecting New Watershed Data
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s):5 & 6

10:50 – 11:10 QAPPs and Filling the Data Gaps

Pat Rector, Principal Environmental Specialist, Bureau of Watershed Planning, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Quality Assurance Project Plans
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s): 6 & 7

11:10 – 11:40 Overview of the Stressor Identification Protocol

Susan Cormier, Senior Ecologist, Office of Research and Development, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Using sequences of assessments to achieve environmental protection
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s): 7.2.6

Order Stressor I.D. Guidance Document (EPA Doc.#822b00025) at: http://www.epa.gov/ncepihom/ordering.htm
View it online at: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/biocriteria/stressors/index.html

11:40 – 12:10 Structural Restoration Practices: A Collection of Successful Examples

Fred Lubnow, Director of Aquatic Programs, Princeton Hydro, LLC
Structural Restoration Practices: A Collection of Successful Examples

12:10 – 1:00 LUNCH

Restoring Your Watershed

1:00 – 1:45 Identifying Objectives and Focusing Load Reductions

Brian Benham, Director, Center for TMDL and Watershed Studies, Virginia Tech
Setting Goals: Identifying Objectives and Focusing Load Reductions
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s): 8 & 9

1:45 – 2:30 Setting Milestones: Design and Implementation of a Restoration Plan

Dan Van Abs , Director, Watershed Protection Unit, New Jersey Water Supply Authority
Setting Milestones: Design and Implementation of a Restoration Plan
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s): 10 &11

2:30 – 3:00 Measuring Progress for Continued Improvement

Robert Limbeck , Watershed Scientist, Delaware River Basin Commission
Measuring Progress for Continued Improvement
Corresponding EPA Manual Chapter(s): 12 &13

3:00 – 3:15 Closing Remarks

Presenter Contact Information

Response to Workshop Evaluations

Formation of a Statewide Steering Committee