Applied Ecological Services, Inc.
Wisconsin Office
17921 Smith Road,
P. O. Box 256
Brodhead, WI 53520
Phone: 608.897.8641
Voicemail: 608.897.4898
AES Fax: 608.897.8486
TCRN Fax: 608.897.2044
Info@AppliedEco.com

Illinois Office
120 West Main St
W. Dundee, IL 60118
Phone: 847.844.9385
Fax: 847.844.8759

Kansas City Office
1904 Elm Street
Eudora, KS 66025
Phone 785.542.3090
Fax 785.542.3570

Minnesota Office
21938 Mushtown Rd
Prior Lake, MN 55372
Phone: 952.447.1919
Fax: 952.447.1920

East Coast Office
1100 E. Hector Street Suite #398
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone: 610.238.9088

Watershed Planning Projecting an ecological vision for the future
As we enter a new millennium and our collective focus shifts to the future, it's no surprise that we are experiencing a growing interest in watershed planning. This complex conservation process is all about the future, and understanding the long-term consequences -- ecological, legal, social, and economic -- of the decisions we make regarding the communities in which we live. Watershed planning begins with a detailed mapping of the land cover types and vegetation communities within a watershed or study area. This information helps the AES team understand the nature of the hydrology, hydraulics and water quality associated with anticipated runoff from the land. Simultaneously, we measure hydrology, hydraulics and water quality within the watershed; this may include gathering and summarizing preexisting available data. Then, if necessary, that data is augmented with new diagnostic approaches such as electronic measure-ment and analysis of certain water quality indicators, or installing gauges that provide us with calibrated hydrographs of water levels during modelled storm events throughout the watershed. After we have conducted the research and documentation, we begin looking at what we can do to undo existing problems and head-off anticipated problems. This is where the planning process really becomes strategic as we try to locate within the watershed exactly where ecological restoration, conservation development, and various stormwater management techniques can be superimposed upon the projected land use.
Interactive education: Working with stakeholders
However, one cannot simply walk onto a watershed and start projecting a vision for its future without first working with its stakeholders -- the people who own the land, farm the land, and live in its surrounding community. From the beginning we integrate a science-based, interactive educational programming element into the visioning and planning process so that people will understand what changes have occurred, what changes are anticipated, and the options and costs of alleviating future problems. The stakeholders are intimately involved in deciding the direction and vision of the watershed planning process, as well they should be. It is a very complex process which can take months or even years to complete conclusively.
Example projects
However, one cannot simply walk onto a watershed and start projecting a vision for its future without first working with its stakeholders -- the people who own the land, farm the land, and live in its surrounding community. From the beginning we integrate a science-based, interactive educational programming element into the visioning and planning process so that people will understand what changes have occurred, what changes are anticipated, and the options and costs of alleviating future problems. The stakeholders are intimately involved in deciding the direction and vision of the watershed planning process, as well they should be. It is a very complex process which can take months or even years to complete conclusively. Red River of the North, Minnesota Watershed planning involves large-scale resource assessment, and perhaps one of the best examples is the 7.5 million acre Red River of the North Project in northwestern Minnesota, where AES is part of a science advisory team assembled to work with a large group of stakeholders. The agenda: addressing future flood mitigation. "We were asked to help lay the foundation so that the working group could envision, make decisions, and come to agreements based on good science," said Steve Apfelbaum, AES research and consulting ecologist. "We were also asked to identify areas of uncertainty and fill in data gaps by doing additional field sampling and data analysis, so that the stakeholders could make informed decisions. It is a very involved process that has taken about two years so far." In fact, the Red River Project is one of the largest watershed planning projects in the U.S., resulting in precedent-setting agreements at all levels: ecological, legal, financial, and social.
Cane Creek Watershed, North Carolina In western North Carolina, AES and partner Resource Data Inc. of Asheville, NC, are putting the final touches on a plan for an 80,000 acre watershed which used to be home to a world-class brook trout stream. Working with RDI, we laid out the history of the watershed and identified the changes responsible for the deterioration of the stream. To undo the problems of the past, we determined the need to prevent direct runoff into the stream by holding water onto the land through infiltration and evapo-transpiration. Currently, we are in the process of specifying stormwater management strategies that address the needs for water to be managed in each tributary area to ensure good water quality for Cane Creek and its resident trout.
Liberty, Missouri An unprecedented level of stakeholder involvement was one of the driving forces behind the success of the Liberty, Missouri Future Land Use Plan. For this plan, AES and Land Planning Services of St. Charles, IL, were awarded the 1999 Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan by the American Planning Association. "It was just an amazing process we went through with this community," commented Apfelbaum. "We had many, many educational sessions with the stakeholders -- talking about the basics of ecology, hydrology, water quality, good and bad planning. We discussed what these people appreciate and value about their community, what they don't value, what they want their community to be like in 50 years, and how we can get there." In Liberty, AES and LPS faced the challenge of redesigning 50 square miles of the city's original master plan from the 1960s. Streams within the Kansas City suburb were already experiencing major flooding, water quality deterioration, and severe erosion. When one stream flooded the downtown area, roads were cut off, emergency access was restricted, and commerce was brought to a standstill. Based on the existing and modelled behavior of the watershed, AES and LPS advised the stakeholders that if they didn't rethink the way they were proposing to develop the watersheds within their community, they were going to have much more severe problems. "The original master plan showed large areas of high-density residential development going through these watersheds. We predicted and modelled what the impacts were going to be. They were going to see substantially more flooding and severe erosion problems in downtown Liberty; some of their infrastructures like railroads and building foundations were already being impacted by the flooding. As we spoke, it was like a big lightbulb went on," Apfelbaum explained. To serve as a basis for the new master plan, AES performed a "carrying capacity" analysis -- perhaps the first of its kind in the nation -- to determine the amount of impervious area that could be created without damaging the ecological resources or further exacerbating the existing drainage problems. Putting development where it most appropriately belonged, a comprehensive plan was created setting aside zoning districts for stormwater management. And as we have done in the past, we also identified Liberty's conservation lands as part of its watershed plan, taking into account agricultural areas to be restored as well as areas which have existing ecological resources such as wetlands, prairies and forests. In retrospect, the science, technology and planning provided by AES and LPS throughout the Liberty project provided the basis for unprecedented stakeholder interaction, and a very comprehensive approach to securing the future of 50 square miles. Currently, AES is working with The Nature Conservancy on a variety of new watershed plans, from Kankakee Sands in Indiana to the Mackinaw River in Illinois. In some cases, we are involved in the entire project; in others, we participate in pieces of the process of taking a watershed to a "final" plan. "With watershed planning, there is no such thing as final," concluded Apfelbaum. "There are divisions, projects and agreements, but all of that must continually adapt and evolve as information and needs become apparent."

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