Watershed Restoration Plans

 

 A Watershed Restoration Plan (WRP) is a tool developed and designed to help a watershed group plan for and implement restoration activities in their watershed. A WRP is a living document that once developed should be reviewed and reworked, if appropriate, about once every five years.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires nine minimum elements for WRPs. These elements should ensure a WRP will be as complete and thorough as possible in order to ensure successful restoration planning in a watershed.  

 

      Nine Minimum Elements At A Glance:

1. Identify causes and sources of pollution
2. Estimate pollutant loading into the watershed and expected load reductions 
3. Describe the management measures to acheive load reductions in targeted areas
4. Estimate of the amounts of technical and financial assistance
5. Develop an information/education component
6. Schedule for implementing the NPS management measures
7. Description of interim, measurable milestones
8. Identify indicators to measure progress over time 
9. Monitoring component

 

 

 

Useful WRP Documents:

 

• EPA's Nine Mimimum Elements for a WRP

• DEQ's WRP Presentation with Accepted Examples*

          *Presentation runs best in Google Chrome

• PDF  

 

• Examples of WRP Implementation
• EPA's Watershed Planning Website 
• EPA's Watershed Plan Builder Tool 

 

  

   In order to receive 319 funding, EPA requires a WRP.  Projects can be funded if they occur in an area where there is a WRP that has already been accepted, otherwise one needs to be written.  

 

DEQ Accepted WRPs (Map) Beaverhead  Bitterroot Blackfoot  Deep Creek (Townsend) Flathead Lake  Flint Creek Kootenai River Basin Lake Helena Little Blackfoot River Lolo Creek Lower Clark Fork Lower Gallatin  Middle Lower Big Hole  Ninemile Creek  Ruby  Shields Sun Swan  Teton Upper Big Hole  Upper Clark Fork Tributaries  Upper Gallatin	WRPs in Development Flathead/ Flathead CD  Madison River/ Madison CD Upper Jefferson/ Jefferson River Watershed Council St.Regis/ Trout Unlimited

For more information on WRPs in Montana please contact Robert Ray at 444-5319.