The Huron River Watershed Council: Grassroots organization for holistic watershed management

The Huron River Watershed Council is a coalition of Huron Valley residents and local governments with the mission to inspire attitudes, behaviors, and economies that protect, rehabilitate, and sustain the Huron River. Its rol e as the coordinator and facilitator of river protection activities has bee n growing rapidly in recent years. The success of the Council has been its ability to respond to local conditions and deal with the concerns expressed by local communities. Its ability to cross jurisdictional and political bo undaries that inhibit other organizations enables it to address water quali ty issues in an innovative and holistic manner. It does this through the se ries of programs listed below: The "Adopt-A-Stream" network of volunteers that regularly collect data on t he biological integrity of the Huron River. A wellhead protection program to help communities prevent groundwater suppl y contamination caused by pollution leaching into local aquifers. The facilitation of a partnership to reduce phosphorus and soil entering th e river system from storm water runoff in the urbanizing middle portion of the watershed. Land use planning and natural feature preservation tools to prevent the hea dwaters of the Huron River from developing in an environmentally destructiv e way. An information and education plan to reduce non-point source pollution by t argeting specific behaviors of watershed residents. (C) 1999 Published by E lsevier Science Ltd on behalf of the IAWQ. All rights reserved.