North Branch Park River Watershed Management Plan project teamwork officially concluded on July 31, 2010. The approved final document resides with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, along with other watershed management plans and documents on the Ct DEP website.
The watershed plan includes four documents:
(1) Baseline Assessment Report
(2) Land Use Regulatory Review (DRAFT)
(3) detailed subwatershed Field Assessment Report, and
(4) Watershed Management Plan
The Baseline Watershed Assessment summarizes existing environmental and land use conditions in the watershed, while identifying priority areas in the watershed for subwatershed field inventories. The Land Use Regulatory Review describes a review of municipal land use regulations, plans, and policies of the watershed communities, including recommendations for new or improved regulatory mechanisms to address water quality and natural resource issues within the watershed. The results of subwatershed field inventories are documented in a Watershed Field Assessment, which includes targeted and site-specific opportunities for watershed restoration projects. Finally, the Watershed Management Plan identifies prioritized action items to protect and improve the ecological integrity of the North Branch Park River and its watershed based on the priorities and issues identified in the three previous reports, with input from the CTDEP and a project steering committee.