Watershed Conservation Plan - Destination Erie

other communities, organizations, and infrastructure management agencies are planning to adapt to
climate change.
The initial outreach task will be carried out by LERC in five separate sessions, each at a different
location within geographically related management areas; these sessions are planned to be completed by the
end of November 2008.
Action plan Objectives 4–8 (see Table 10.1) identify key activities that would advance the restoration
and protection of the valuable aquatic and natural resources of the Pennsylvania Lake Erie watershed. Priority
actions to implement restoration of impaired aquatic resources (see Table 10.4) include:
• Consolidate stakeholder partnerships within and between management areas having same problems and
restoration needs to facilitate joint planning of stormwater controls and retrofits, and coordinate
preparation of funding proposals.
• Develop GIS-based watershed and stream restoration and monitoring plan that includes considerations
for monitoring restored sites and streams.
• Implement specific restoration projects employing BMPs that: (1) conform to stakeholder GIS-based
restoration strategies and (2) provide monitoring information after project completion.
• Construct new (or retrofit existing) stormwater controls in areas having large amounts of impervious
surfaces and/or where discharges are contributing to known stream impacts.
• Restore riparian buffers, preferably with native plants, including conifers and other forest species
wherever possible.
• Install passive treatment systems (landscape plantings, water gardens, wetlands, ponds, etc.) to remove
environmental contaminants (metals, organics, etc.) that enter streams via storm drains from streets,
parking lots, and other impervious surfaces.
• Once sources of E. coli contamination of beaches and streams are pin-pointed, develop GIS-based
restoration strategy and implementation plans with monitoring to eliminate bacterial pollution.
Leadership for implementing restoration actions will come from several different organizations that are
already active in performing similar actions, including the Erie County Planning Department, municipalities
throughout the watershed, the PADEP, the ECCD, Pennsylvania Sea Grant, PLEWA, and other watershed
groups.
The third major category of priority actions are in the realm of resource protection activities (see Table
10.5), including:
• Establish stakeholder partnerships within each management area to facilitate community involvement
and land owner participation in protection initiatives, coordinated with outreach actions and planning
for stream and watershed restoration.
• Develop GIS-based protection strategy for each management area, by establishing a list of candidate
properties to be considered for acquisition or purchase of conservation easements, coordinated with
existing easement programs (e.g., Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Erie Access Improvement
and Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation programs).
• Seek protection status for privately owned properties that would increase public access to aquatic,
natural, and historical/cultural resources for recreational and/or educational purposes.
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