Identifying Watersheds

Publications

Watersheds: A Practical Handbook for Healthy Water, by Clive Dobson and Gregor Gilpin Beck. Firefly Books, 1999. A beautifully illustrated book providing an overview of the fundamentals of ecology, from the simple concept of a watershed to the biological intricacies of a wetland ecosystem and its implications on the environment.

Online Resources

cfpub1.epa.gov/surf/locate/map2.cfm
“Surf Your Watershed,” a website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Here you can locate the regional watershed of which your town or site is a part, and get information about that watershed. This website, however, lacks the detail to show you the boundaries of smaller watersheds.

Maps and Aerial Photographs

National
store.usgs.gov
United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic contour maps, sometimes called “topo maps,” can be very helpful in determining watershed boundaries since they illustrate the changing elevation of a landscape. From the USGS Store, click on Map Locator and then follow the steps to find maps for a particular area that are available for free download or for purchase.
Urban environments: You can often obtain detailed topo maps, or aerial photos with superimposed contour lines, from government agencies. The departments of transportation, mapping, or flood control are usually a good place to start.

Tucson, AZ
For information on such issues as property lines, ownership, whether streets in your neighborhood are designated bike routes, or how to use the Pima County MapGuide to determine topography of your block, start by calling Anna Sanchez or David Taylor in the Demographics section of the City Department of Urban Planning and Design.
520 791-4505

MapGuide classes
About every three months, the Pima County Department of Transportation (DOT) conducts free public classes on using the MapGuide Viewer with Pima County DOT MapGuide maps. Many data layers are shown and discussed. If you are new to MapGuide, it would help to go to “Pima County MapGuide Maps,” follow the directions there, and get a little experience before the class.
Class announcement page:
http://www.dot.pima.gov/events/mgclass/mgclass.cfm
GIS home page:
http://www.dot.pima.gov/gis/
City site:
http://www.tucsonaz.gov/planning/maps

Neighborhood/Community Watershed Project Financial Assistance

National
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
CDBG funds (from Housing & Urban Development (HUD)) may be used for improvements that are either publicly owned or traditionally provided by the government, such as: sidewalks/footpaths; public right-of-way water harvesting (natural drainage systems/Street Edge Alternatives); public right-of-way street tree plantings; public parks/gardens/preserves). At least 51% of the neighborhood must be low- or moderate-income, defined as households with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income.

Tucson, AZ
Grant funds are administered by the City of Tucson. Call your Ward office for more info, or contact Lucinda Abril:
520 791-4123.

Pima County, AZ
Pima County Neighborhood Reinvestment Program
Bond funds are available for some community enhancement projects in neighborhoods that demonstrate the greatest economic and social need. Neighborhoods are encouraged to provide some kind of matching funds. Proposals are accepted on a year-round basis. To learn if your neighborhood or your proposed project is eligible for funding, contact the Neighborhood Reinvestment Office at the Kino Service Center:
520 243-6777

Community/Neighborhood Watershed Project Technical Assistance

Arizona
Bluestake
To get utility lines, utility easements, city right-of-way, or property lines marked for free, call Bluestake within 14 days prior to digging:
800 782-5348

Pima County, AZ
PRO Neighborhoods
Through the PRO Neighborhoods Planning and Design Service Awards, community groups can be matched with a team of planners, engineers, hydrologists, biologists, permaculturalists, landscape architects, and other professionals who provide their services on a pro bono basis to produce a concept, strategic plan, or specific plans for implementation of a neighborhood improvement project. This is not a needs-based award; selection is grounded in the community-building potential of the project. For information contact Judith Anderson at:
520 882-5885, or visit:
www.proneighborhoods.org

The Drachman Institute
The public service/community outreach arm of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona offers assistance to community groups in architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and urban design. The request for proposals goes out in the spring. Projects are selected according to their suitability as class projects, for-credit Masters reports, or capstone projects. While there is no charge for faculty and student salary, some groups will be asked to contribute funds (on a sliding scale, based on ability to pay) at the beginning of the project to support materials, supplies, printing & reproduction, travel, and other project-related direct costs. For info contact the director, Corky Poster at:
cposter@u.arizona.edu or 520 626-5293, or visit:
www.drachmaninstitute.org

Tucson, AZ
Traffic mitigation/traffic calming
Explore the possibility of incorporating water harvesting techniques in your traffic calming plans (curb cuts, porous parking areas, landscaped chicanes or pull-outs, traffic circles, pedestrian refuge islands, etc).
Get information about the permitting process from Zelin Canchola at the City of Tucson Department of Transportation Traffic Engineering Division:
zcanchol@ci.tucson.az.us or 520 791-4259

Neighborhood Traffic Management Program
You can request an information packet, including an outline of the petitioning process, from Traffic Engineering at 201 N Stone Ave, 5th floor, Tucson, AZ 85726.

Community tree planting
To get order forms for inexpensive native shade trees and native street trees, see:
www.DesertHarvesters.org and click on Native Tree Order Forms.
For further information contact Doug Koppinger:
tcb@ci.tucson.az.us or 520 791-3109

Watershed Community Organizing & Watershed Awareness

Publications

“Basins of Relations: Restoring a Watershed State of Being,” by Brock Doleman. Permaculture Activist, no. 47, Summer 2002, pp. 8-12.

“A Watershed Runs Through You,” by Freeman House. YES! magazine, no. 28, Winter 2004.

Getting in Step: Engaging and Involving Stakeholders in Your Watershed, by Charlie MacPherson, Barry Tonning, and Emily Fallasli of Tetra Tech, Inc. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 68-C-99-249, 1998. This guide provides the tools needed to engage stakeholders effectively to restore and maintain healthy environmental conditions throughout their watershed through community support and cooperative action. To get a copy contact Charlie MacPherson:
charlie.macpherson@tetratech-ffx.com or 703-385-6000.

Getting in Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns, prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 841-B-03-002, December 2003. This guide is an update of the 1998 publication “Getting in Step: A Guide to Effective Outreach in Your Watershed.” This updated version includes more specific information on how to work with the mass media to conduct an outreach campaign.  For copies of this guide and its companion video contact: National Service Center for Environmental Publications:
www.epa.gov/ncepihom
800 490-9198

Starting Up: A Handbook for New River and Watershed Organizations, compiled by Katherine Luscher. River Network, 1996. This 440-page handbook is based on the experience of dozens of veteran leaders in the river and conservation movements with articles laying out the critical moves every newly forming organization needs to thrive and grow.
www.rivernetwork.org
503 241-3506.

How to Start a Watershed Awareness Program, by the Aquatic Outreach Institute.
www.thewatershedproject.org
510 231-5655

Stormwater Strategies: Community Responses to Runoff Pollution, by Peter H. Lehner, George P. Aponte Clarke, Diane M. Cameron, and Andrew G. Frank. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), May 1999. One hundred case studies of successful projects around the U.S. that simultaneously improve runoff quality and the environment, have economic advantages, and additional community benefits.

“Stormwater Management: Use It or Lose It,” by Tim Murphy. Sustainable Living in Drylands, no. 5, Winter 1988/89. A great wake-up call to the value of our stormwater runoff, and how we can use it as the local resource it is.

Stormwater: Asset Not Liability, published by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council.
213 367-4111.

Stormwater Journal keeps you updated on issues related to stormwater control and lessening stormwater runoff pollution. Subscription information: www.stormh2o.com

International Erosion Control Association (IECA) and its publication the Erosion Control Journal keep you updated on erosion control strategies pushed by regulators and the industry. Membership and other information:
www.ieca.org

Programs

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s WATER Institute
This organization offers the four-day residential training program, “Basins of Relations: Starting and Sustaining Community Watershed Groups.”
15290 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental, CA 95465
707 874-1557
www.oaec.org

Urban Landscape Design & Retrofitting

Publications

Second Nature: Adapting LA’s Landscape for Sustainable Living, edited by Patrick Condon and Stacy Moriarty. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 1999. A great resource of a group in Los Angeles creating cross-jurisdictional and cross-disciplinary connections between the people and institutions responsible for the infrastructure, planning, and ecology of Los Angeles in order to view the city as a living watershed. Concepts such as passive rainwater harvesting and multiple-use landscaping are presented that could help improve the sustainability of the City and the watershed.
TreePeople, 12601 Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
www.TreePeople.org/trees

Product Specification for the Trans-Agency Resources for Economic and Environmental Sustainability Project, by John Stokes Associates, Inc., 1998. Prepared for TreePeople, Beverly Hills, CA. This is the Cost-Benefit Analysis for the T.R.E.E.S. Project, a program in Los Angeles. See Second Nature, above.

Online Resources

www.TreePeople.org/trees
TreePeople website