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ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND PROTECTION STRATEGIES AT MULTIPLE SCALES IN RI WATERSHEDS
Citation:
Lussier, S M., H A. Walker, G G. Pesch, W B. Galloway, Adler, R Comeleo, AND J Copeland. ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AND PROTECTION STRATEGIES AT MULTIPLE SCALES IN RI WATERSHEDS. Presented at RI Natural History Survey Conference, Providence RI, March 12, 1999.
Description:
EP A New England, in cooperation with New England states, natural resource specialists, and stakeholders has adopted an approach to help identify areas of healthy natural resources. Rather than focusing on remediation options for areas that are not sustaining aquatic life or human use, the "New England Resource Protection" approach focuses on identifying and protecting healthy ecosystems. Diverse stakeholders are involved in an open process designed to identify and characterize healthy ecosystems in both a human health and ecosystem context. The Clean Water Act assessment approach identifies areas that are not supporting desired uses (e.g., fishing or swimming). Using the Geographic Information System (GIS), we combined pertinent information from both approaches by adding information from the Rhode Island Resource Protection Project to Clean Water Act assessment data from the Pawcatuck Watershed to show where areas of nonattainment overlapped with valuable natural resources. At the subbasin scale in this watershed, areas of specific nonattainment can be identified and probable causes determined based on simple GIS analyses. Derived maps illustrate how public concerns, Clean Water Act reporting, and New England Resources Protection information can be integrated at state, watershed, and subbasin scales and communicated to the public.