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Sea Grant Regional Watershed Restoration Specialists
Dr. Doug Lipton is the PI. Funding is $144,000. This project is a collaboration with Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Chesapeake and Coastal Watershed Services. Project duration is January 2009-December 2010. This project seeks to demonstrate what State and local partnerships can accomplish through targeting and innovative partnerships that work collaboratively to define priorities, identify opportunities for funds and develop long-term working relationships to build capacity. Central to this approach is dedicated staff who can help facilitate unique place-based relationships as well as make critical connections to sources of knowledge, funding and key service providers in State government, academia and the non-profit sector.
This project will fund a pilot program to create the first two of what is envisioned as a network of Regional Watershed Restoration Specialists (RWRS). Each of the RWRS will work in one of the priority tributary basins to provide implementation assistance focused on helping local and county governments and watershed groups plan, implement and monitor projects that lead to a quantifiable reduction in nonpoint sources of pollution. These positions will test the concept that a liaison/facilitator/ombudsman will be able to help orchestrate the many resources available to assist in a watershed’s restoration activities. It will also test how well a targeted watershed approach can succeed in a multijurisdictional environment.
Lessons learned from the Corsica River Restoration Pilot suggest that the readiness and capacity of the aggregate “watershed community” can be a limiting factor in accelerating restoration. The RWRS will (1) assist in developing seminal partnerships (2) help identify and prioritize the most pressing nonpoint-source pollution challenges, and (3) implement on-the-ground projects with appropriate partners that result in measurable improvements in water quality and wildlife habitat on a small watershed scale. S/he will assist in realizing funding opportunities for these efforts.
The Regional Watershed Restoration Specialists will act as a critical interface between communities and service providers and other sources of knowledge, with the expressed intent of building on-the-ground capacity and targeted outcomes. They will also serve as a conduit for information sharing between these partners and in a broader sense to the public at large. This role is one that university-based extension professionals have taken for many years to build a culture of engagement that characterizes both Land and Sea Grant Universities.
The RWRS will work closely with existing and developing organizations within the state and watershed. These groups include the Tributary Strategy Teams, local governments, watershed associations and Riverkeeper groups. The RWRS will keep abreast of Maryland BayStat activities and it’s Scientific Advisory Panel which will be advising on funding of projects through the Bay Trust Fund as well as other related projects. The RWRS program will be a major component of the emerging Coastal and Chesapeake Program’s Watershed Assistance Collaborative that also encompasses the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Resources Grant Program and the Training for Capacity Building activities being developed with the Environmental Finance Center.
For more information, contact Dr. Doug Lipton
Last updated: 04/8/2009
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