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YOU ARE HERE: www.marionswcd.org >
watersheds >
View up-to-date watershed maps for Marion County
Help Review the Fall Creek Watershed Draft Plan!
Check out appropriate draft sections of the Lower Fall Creek Watershed
Management Plan (WMP) at the source below and provide comments back to our SWCD
before April 1, 2009. We truly encourage the inputs of anyone
interested in this project in providing pro and con comments and
suggestions to help us improve our Plan. Send comments and
suggestions via mail to the Marion County Soil and Water Conservation
District 6960 S. Gray Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46237or email the SWCD Director at ron-lauster@iaswcd.org.
If you need a hard copy of the plan phone the office at 317-786-1776.
Your efforts will be greatly appreciated. The current draft report
is currently over 52 pages, but you can download individual sections in
Microsoft
format as needed. Additional Appendices and Exhibits are also
available upon request. Learn more about the plan and the watershed by visiting
the Lower Fall Creek Watershed website at
www.lowerfallcreek.org/.
The plan sections are available from the home page by clicking on plan on
the left hand side of the home page. Please provide comments by
April 1st to the Marion Co. SWCD office.
Check out these active Watershed Sites for:
Central Indiana
Central Indiana
Watersheds
& Marion County
Eagle Creek Watershed
Lower Fall Creek Watershed
Upper White River Alliance
Check to See if a Site is in a Flood Plain?
Check to see if you live in or near a
flood plain. Thanks to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
and services provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
flood hazard maps have been developed for most communities in the United
States. To get a Flood Insurance
Rate Map (FIRM) for your community go to
www.fema.gov/hazard/flood
on the web and click on flood maps.
With some patience you can view a map for most areas. You usually can
find the site by just entering your address. For
additional information about FEMA visit their web site
is at www.fema.gov .
The Importance of Watershed Planning
When water flows
across the land during rainfall events, it can carry fertilizers, loose
soil, litter and other pollutants into streams and other surrounding water
bodies. As a result, everything we do on the land affects the quality and
quantity of our water resources and the natural systems that surround us.
Therefore, the natural resources and the quality of life in our
communities are directly affected—positively or negatively—by the way we
plan for and manage the land we use.
Community watershed
management planning is a way to consider a wide range of environmental,
economic, and social issues along with the community’s vision for the
future of the watershed under a single framework. Working within physical
boundaries rather than political boundaries, the watershed management
planning process provides opportunities to address water quality and
habitat issues beyond the scope of single jurisdictions. It provides a
means to ensure environmental protection, to support quality of life
issues, and accommodates economic development using the watershed as the
planning framework. Any kind of planning allows you to put a single action
into the context of a larger vision—watershed management planning allows
for that vision to include healthy natural resources and waterways.
Local governments and watershed associations play an essential role in
restoring Marion County's water resources through the restoration and
protection of local water bodies and habitat. Many local agencies are
becoming more engaged in watershed management planning. Because these
entities have developed an understanding of the connection between land
use and environmental health, it is hoped that watershed planning will
become an integral part of comprehensive land use planning within their
jurisdictions. Localities in the Marion County area have began to conduct
watershed management planning in areas such as the Mud Creek and Eagle
Creek Reservoir. In these watersheds it is hoped that
protection, preservation, restoration and other land use decisions can now
be made using technical and financial resources as efficiently and
effectively as possible in order to improve water quality, habitat and the
quality of life for all residents.
Watershed
management planning is a process that involves many steps and includes a
variety of stakeholders as well. Watershed groups often start by
building public support and then move through a planning process.
The planning process does not always move in one direction and the various
steps are interrelated. Information gained at one step may lead the group
to move to another step in the process. For example, information gained
during the inventory step may lead the group back to seeking new
stakeholders. The watershed planning process is described in the
Handbook listed below. The planning process should be completed and
result in the the development of an actual watershed management plan.
Community Watershed Assessment
The Watershed Approach
Handbook Fact Sheet
Community
Watershed Assessment Handbook
-A Guide to the First Steps of
Creating a Watershed Plan
The
Watershed Approach Framework
Watershed
Protection
Natural Resource Assessment Data
NRCS natural resource
problem assessment (at the national level)
National Resource Inventory (NRI) web site
Water Assessment Data
Indiana Water Quality Assessment Data Base
EPA Watershed
Assessment
Stream Improvement Information
(Be patient the following files are in pdf format, and may take
some time to download)
Riparian
Forest Buffer Fact Sheet
Riparian Forest Buffer
Standard
Stream Channel
Stabilization Standard
Streambank
Protection Standard
Stream Habitat
Improvement Fact Sheet
Stream Habitat
Improvement Standard
River Corridor & Wetland
Restoration
Stream Corridor Restoration
Federal
Agency Stream Corridors Group
Federal Interagency Working Group
National Conservation Buffer Initiative
Riparian References
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