6 min read
Watershed stewards

Alabama Watershed Stewards

Alabama Watershed Stewards (AWS) is a science-based outreach program from Extension and the Auburn University Water Resources Center that promotes healthy watersheds, increases understanding of water pollution, and provides the knowledge and tools to approach water as a community asset.

A watershed is a naturally defined area of land that determines how precipitation collects and drains water into a common basin (river, lake, or stream). Everyone lives in a watershed and each watershed is different. Pollution, erosion, and other activities that take place on the land can significantly impact water quality and ecological communities within the watershed. Watersheds are natural geographic boundaries in the landscape and can be a helpful and tangible way to frame and address local water quality concerns.

Through various workshops and educational materials, Watershed Stewards offers a platform for local decision makers, organizations, and city officials to come together in imagining the future of their community’s waterways, and to take action to protect and plan for those resources. AWS workshops include 1-day Watershed Stewards workshops, 1-day watershed planning workshops, technology transfer workshops like bioretention and permeable pavement design, and hands on projects like rain garden installations. Workshops are open to the public with registration.

Activities are led by the Auburn University Water Resources Center, (Alabama Cooperative Extension System Water Program in partnership with Alabama Water Watch) and various local partners.  The program is funded by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management through a Clean Water Act Section 319(h) nonpoint source grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Region 4.

Image of how water flows across a landscape in a watershed.

Why do Watersheds Need Local Stewardship?

Alabama deserves cities and towns that are resilient, livable, productive, and sustainable; that begins with clean waterAlabama’s water resources can be assets to regional and economic development if we plan to protect and preserve them. Whose responsibility is it to protect our waterways when they belong to all of us? The health of watersheds directly impacts people, yet many of us are unsure what we can personally do to improve local waterways.  The Alabama Watershed Stewards (AWS) program at Auburn University uses a watershed approach to involve people in addressing local quality concerns. 

Watershed Stewards works to collaboratively improve watershed management skills and provide a platform for community leaders to exchange of problems and solutions through local support networks. We offer both educational outreach and on the ground projects that encourage the adoption of water management strategies that benefit the community, the economy, and the environment.

Approaching water quality concerns at a small, local scale can empower people to take action. Making the connection between land use, human activities, and ecological impact on our shared natural resources can be a difficult task due to the complexity of these systems. Watershed planning can give local stakeholders more ownership over appropriate avenues for change by outlining the current state of the watershed, projected concerns, and by prioritizing future activities. 

The Environmental Protection Agency defines a watershed approach as a coordinating framework for environmental management that focuses public and private sector efforts to address the highest priority problems within hydrologically-defined geographic areas, taking into consideration both ground and surface water flow. Making the connection between land use, human activities, and ecological impact on our shared natural resources can be a difficult task due to the complexity of these systems. Watershed planning can give local stakeholders more ownership over appropriate avenues for change by outlining the current state of the watershed, projected concerns, and by prioritizing future activities.

By using a watershed approach, the Alabama Watershed Stewards Program encourages citizens to take an active role in addressing local water quality concerns. Communities can use watershed management plans to help prioritize community activities, providing a tangible bite-sized approach to tackling the biggest areas of concern within a watershed.

How the Program Works

Alabama Watershed Stewards hosts several types of trainings, each intended to promote healthy watersheds, increase citizen understanding of watershed pollution, and provide people with the tools they need to prevent and resolve local watershed issues. Visit the ACES Calendar and search for “watershed” to see all upcoming offerings.

1. Alabama Watershed Stewards Trainings

These one-day in person trainings across the state focus on specific watersheds that currently have waterways in need of community care or on specific topics of interest to stakeholders in a particular watershed.

What you’ll learn: These workshops invite local leaders and members of the water community to share their experiences, identify local challenges and opportunities that can benefit the community, the economy, and the environment. This program offers a platform for local decision makers, organizations, and city officials to come together in imagining the future of their city’s waterways, and to take action to protect and plan for those resources.

What you’ll do: Listen to talks from other participants, engage in discussions and small projects. Participants gain practical information about local watersheds groups, partnerships possibilities, and project funding opportunities.

Draft agenda (varies depending on event):

8:30 Sign in
9:00 Welcome + program introduction (AU Water Resources Team)
9:15 Overview of watershed systems (AU Water Resources Team)
10:10 Understanding the state of your watershed
11:45 Catered Lunch
12:30 Improving watersheds – What can we do?
2:30 Community discussion
3:00 Upcoming events and closing comments

How it works:

  • Register for a workshops in your region by visiting the AU Water Resources Center Calendar
  • Open to the public.
  • Events are either free or offered for a small fee. Fee covers lunch and an Alabama Watershed Stewards Handbook.

2. Watershed Management Planning Workshops

Wherever you live, you live within a watershed. A watershed is a naturally defined area of land that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually to outflow points such as reservoirs, bays, and oceans. The land use activities in your watershed can ultimately influence the quality of water in a region. Citizens can become involved with improving local water quality through watershed planning efforts. Watershed planning is a voluntary integrated approach to responsible resource management by considering the watershed as a whole. These one-day in person workshops introduce the process of watershed planning for communities as a voluntary way to plan for a community’s water future and gain opportunities for project funding.

What you’ll learn: About the process of 1) identifying and prioritizing water quality challenges in the watershed, 2) developing increased public involvement, 3) coordinating activities with other agencies, and 4) measuring success through increased and more efficient monitoring and other data gathering.

What you’ll do: Events vary depending on the stakeholders and needs of each watershed. Usually you will listen to presentations from others in the region working on watershed planning and work with local community members on identifying opportunities you’re your own watershed. Topics covered may include:

  1. Watershed planning – what it means and how it works
  2. The basics of watershed management
  3. Identify challenges and opportunities in your community
  4. Explore funding opportunities related to watershed planning
  5. Leverage water resources and community development
  6. Identify priorities and next steps

How it works:

    • Register for a workshops in your region by visiting the AU Water Resources Center Calendar
    • Open to the public.
    • Events are either free or offered for a small fee. Fee covers lunch and an Alabama Watershed Stewards Handbook.

3. Technology Transfer or Professional Development Trainings

Based on feedback from stakeholders across the state, the Alabama Watershed Stewards program facilitates various workshops on specific topics related to water quality improvement in Alabama.

What you’ll learn: Topics vary greatly but have previously included bioretention design, stormwater wetland design, rain garden design, grant writing for environmental groups, nature-based stormwater solutions, stream restoration, and more.

What you’ll do: Events vary depending on the stakeholders and needs of each watershed. Usually you will listen to presentations from others and engage in some hands on activities related to the subject matter.

How it works:

Register for a workshops in your region by visiting the AU Water Resources Center Calendar

4. Alabama Watershed Stewards Online Course

This free online self-paced course introduces you to the basics of water quality, watershed health, and ways to get involved. Offered year round, this self-paced course will give you a foundational knowledge about watersheds, non-point source pollution, and ways to protect water quality. The course mimics the outline of the Alabama Watershed Stewards Handbook, available online.

What you’ll learn:
Basics of Watershed Systems
Causes of Watershed Impairments
How to use Best Management Practices
How Communities Make a Difference

What you’ll do:  
Complete course videos and quizzes
Make connections across various fields to see how they impact water quality
Learn about how you personally can get involved

How it works:
The course is self-paced so that you can log-in for up to 6 months
Takes roughly 1/hr day for 5 days to complete
Complete all the course requirements and receive .7 CEUs from Auburn University.

Register here: https://aub.ie/awsonline 

Get Involved

Participation in these trainings help build a robust social infrastructure that will make it easier to initiate and carry forward watershed projects.  These trainings welcome Extension agents, water-resource organizations, and the general public as participants.

Resources developed for this program are available on the ACES Webpage.

The Watershed Stewards program helps people understand the intricacies that impact land and water resources. It also connects individuals who want to make a meaningful impact on their watershed. To find out about upcoming events in the new year, follow the ACES Water Social Media account or visit the newsletter signup page  to be added to the mailing list.

For information please contact Laura Bell, Outreach Programs Administrator.