Targeting Watershed Management Practices for Water Quality Protection

Watershed management is the implementation of a set of resource management practices with the goal of ensuring water quality while sustaining the ecosystems. Watershed management is interdisciplinary and seeks to balance human needs with restoration of degraded lands or impaired water bodies, reduced pollutant loading or natural resource preservation, and/or enhanced resilience to human-introduced and natural impacts. Water quality goals extend beyond agricultural production to encompass economic and social concerns as well as the beliefs and concerns of stakeholders, including farmers, other landowners, and community residents. Effective watershed management requires long-term planning and commitment of the part of these stakeholders.