Elk Headwaters

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Elk Headwaters
Comprehensive Watershed Plan
Evan HansenFritz Boettner
Funded by
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Native Brook Trout Streams
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Aquatic Resources
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Tourism
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Outdoor Recreation
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Large Resort
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Smaller, Family-Owned Operations
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History
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Development and Impervious Surfaces
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Second Homes
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Wastewater Treatment Plant Controversy
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Wastewater Treatment Plant Controversy

• Existing violations
• Centralized or decentralized
• Location
• Eminent domain

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From Controversy to Collaboration

• Elk Headwaters Watershed Association
• Stakeholders
• Common vision
• Watershed plan

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Watershed Planning Process
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Phase 1 State of the Watershed
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Study Area
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Subwatersheds
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Phase 1 State of the Watershed

• Existing data
• GIS-based analysis
• Identify issues of concern

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Habitat Integrity
Trout and Habitat
Trout in the Elk Headwaters
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Biological Integrity and Temperature
Biological Score
Temperature
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Dissolved Oxygen and pH
Dissolved Oxygen
pH
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Bacteria
Bacteria in the Elk Headwaters
Bacteria over time in the Elk Headwaters
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Sedimentation and Flooding
Mean TSS loads across the Elk Headwaters watershed
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Watershed Issues and Concerns

• Despite recent rapid development, the watershed
  is generally healthy
• Big Spring Fork watershed is stressed, compared
  with others
• Sedimentation and flooding are emerging issues
• Bacteria levels are generally low across the
  watershed

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Phase 2 Common Vision for the Future

• Five facilitated stakeholder meetings
• Revising vision document now
• Key component of final plan
• Guest speakers
• Decentralized wastewater
• Natural stream design
• Rural planning

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Next Steps

• Additional data collection and analysis
• Identify strategies, technologies, policies to
  meet common vision
• Finalize report
• Implement the plan

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Data Needs

• Chemical, physical, biological stream data
• Land use data
• Pervious areas
• Current and future development patterns
• Current and future logging areas
• Modeling the effects of future developments
• Locations of homes and septic systems
• Flooding and sedimentation data

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