Regional Watershed Program awarded major EPA grant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $762,340 to Trees, Water & People to support watershed protection programs in the five-state Headwaters region of Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and South Dakota.

The goal of the initiative, Protecting the Water of the Arid West (PWAW), is to strengthen and enhance the abilities of local watershed groups to understand, protect, and restore their home waters by involving the public and educating local decision makers about watersheds and water quality issues.

"Water is the lifeblood of the American West," said United States Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO). "With this funding, Trees, Water & People will have the tools necessary to help ensure that Coloradans throughout the state will be able to enjoy sustained access to this vital resource for years to come."

The Headwaters region supplies water to more than 110 million people in the U.S. and more in Mexico. Across this region, watershed groups are providing the leadership to coordinate hundreds of voluntary watershed improvement projects. They also have an extensive community outreach network that educates the public about water quality and pollution issues as well as pending laws, regulations, and new water policies under consideration. Richard Fox, Director of TWP's National Program, said that "The future of the arid West depends upon effectively managing our water resources. Watershed protection groups unite local landowners, government agency personnel, and private citizens in a powerful new partnership based on cooperation instead of conflict and lawsuits. We are honored that the EPA has selected us to help this process become stronger and more sustainable here in the Headwaters states."

TWP will provide training and assistance services to more than 120 watershed groups in the arid West. TWP's partners in this program include the Colorado Watershed Assembly, Montana Watershed Coordination Council, and the Utah Watershed Coordinators Council. The grant will also provide funding for TWP to assist the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and the Rosebud Sioux tribe in South Dakota. TWP will work with Wyoming's Wind River Alliance to support their efforts to educate Native American youth about water quality issues and water monitoring techniques. The work at Rosebud will focus on identifying the amount of water pollution that is prevented through the use of
renewable energy applications.

According to Fox, "The EPA has been tremendously successful at lowering water pollution that comes from pipes and commercial facilities. The next phase is to reduce pollution that comes from societal activities like over-fertilization of lawns, improper septic systems, and unsustainable resource management practices. Watershed protection groups are the essential new core of fi nding volunteer collaborative approaches to these important water quality and pollution issues."

TWP received the largest of the six national grants awarded as part of the EPA's Targeted Watershed Capacity Building Program. This initiative supports EPAs "watershed approach" that employs a coordinated framework for environmental management and strives for those people most affected by management decisions to be involved and shape key decisions.