| "The goal of the Watershed
Partnership is to protect, preserve, and restore
the State's environment by collaboration and consensus
building. This is done by involving the key stakeholders
who live, work, and play within a watershed to be
involved in the decision making process. The intent
is to bring additional resources, expertise, and
perspectives to the table to solve complex problems
more comprehensively. The Watershed Partnership
aims to coordinate what have traditionally been
separate government programs to use existing resources
more effectively." -- RI
DEM Watersheds Partnership |
Soon after federal recognition of the watershed approach,
the State of Rhode Island put together its own framework.
In 1998, the Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island
Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM), University
of Rhode Island (URI), and other stakeholders came together
to form the Watershed Approach Committee and drafted
the Rhode
Island Watershed Approach Framework.
Like on the federal level, watersheds claim no regulatory
power but have access to a set of funds, resources,
and partnerships that did not exist prior to development
of the watershed strategy.
| However, while
the DEM considers the watershed approach as an "addition"
to its organizational structure as opposed to a
"replacement" of how it does business,
it will continue to struggle for additional resources.
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Available resources remain an important limiting factor.
Currently there are only 3 full-time DEM employees devoted
to watershed-level activities and there does not exist
the funding to hire additional watershed coordinators
for expansion of the program.
The RI
DEM Watersheds Partnership (part of the Sustainable
Watersheds Program) is the coordinating program for
state and local resources. It is made up of the Coordinating
Council, the Partners
in Resource Protection, and local watershed teams
like the Watershed
Council.
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