6.1: Watershed Protection
PROTECT WATERSHED HEALTH TO ENSURE CLEAN AND ABUNDANT WATER Other Information:
A healthy watershed is one in which local individuals and organizations, and other interested stakeholders, have defined and
are working toward an acceptable balance of economic growth, environmental protection and social activities. Healthy watersheds
vary widely, depending on their resource conditions and the values and management objectives of their residents. In locally
led watershed planning, people within a watershed assess natural resource conditions, develop proposals and recommendations,
implement solutions and measure success. Specific resource concerns that can be addressed best through a watershed approach
include water quality and quantity, wetlands, and other habitat improvement issues. In the next five years, USDA will measure
the success of its efforts to improve watershed health by reductions in the potential for losses of sediment and in nutrients
from agricultural operations. Objectives for sediment and nutrient reduction are indicators of the general trend in managing
potential agricultural challenges to water quality. As new data on the effects of conservation become available, these objectives
may be replaced with more comprehensive indicators of improved watershed health. For the National Forest System, environmental
health will be measured by the proportion of fully functioning watersheds.
Indicator(s):
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