New Handbook to Help Accelerate Watershed Protection Programs

At the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, the Office of Water announced a new handbook, "Community Based Watershed Handbook" that is now available to help accelerate watershed protection programs.

Lessons from the National Estuary Program is an update to savings Bays and Estuaries, published in 1989. The handbook describes innovative approaches developed and conducted by the 28 National Estuary Programs, which are community-based watershed-management organizations that restore and protect coastal watersheds. Topics covered range from starting a program, identifying problems and solutions to plan development and action steps.

"We anticipate that this handbook will be a useful tool for watershed protection," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "It's an A-to-Z, how-to guide for everyone involved in estuary management as well as those interested in the protection of non-coastal watersheds."

The Handbook can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/nepprimer.