The Healthy Watersheds Consortium Grant Program (HWC) and the Source Water Collaborative (SWC) are co-hosting a series of four webinars in November and December 2021 focused on accelerating watershed protection, building capacity, and overcoming limiting factors.
Since 2016, the HWC has supported 55 projects across the U.S. to accelerate watershed protection. These projects have protected thousands of acres of watershed lands and miles of streams. Many of these projects are important for source water protection and some have shared their work through previous SWC Learning Exchanges. The series will highlight projects advancing protection through engaging water utilities, local governments, and landowners, prioritizing places for protection, and creating or utilizing new sources of funding as they build networks for larger impact.
Please join us for this new webinar series! Each webinar is planned for 90 minutes with a few speakers or a small panel and plenty of time for discussion. We encourage you to engage in this dialogue with a community of practitioners.
1) Watershed protection prioritization – Wednesday, November 10 (3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time)
How do you choose where to protect land within watersheds for source water protection or preventing nonpoint source pollution? To stimulate discussion, we will hear how projects in the Mississippi Headwaters of Minnesota and the Sebago Lake watershed in Maine have prioritized their protection work.
- Beltrami Soil and Water Conservation District (MN)
- Sebago Clean Waters (ME)
Please register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
2) Building capacity and networks – Wednesday, November 17th (3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern Time)
How do you effectively build and maintain a network of practitioners in your watershed? To stimulate discussion, we will hear from watershed protection networks working in central Texas, Minnesota, and across several islands in Hawaii.
- Hill Country Conservation Network (TX)
- Hawaii Association of Watershed Partnerships (HI)
- Morrison Soil and Water Conservation District (MN)
Please register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
3) Community engagement – Wednesday, December 1 (3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern)
How can you work with local governments on planning, policy, and funding for watershed protection? To stimulate discussion, we will hear about local planning and policy work in Michigan’s Huron River watershed and about drinking water supply protection among several coastal communities in Oregon.
- Huron River Watershed Council (MI)
- Sustainable Northwest and partners (OR)
Please register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
4) Landowner Engagement – Thursday, December 9 (3:00 – 4:30 pm Eastern)
How do you effectively engage private landowners on watershed protection? To stimulate discussion, we will hear from projects engaging ranchers and forest landowners in eastern Montana, along the St. Croix River in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and outside of Houston Texas.
- Montana Conservation Corps (MT)
- Croix River Association (WI)
- Katie Prairie Conservancy (TX)
Please register in advance for this meeting here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.