National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Project Evaluation Form

Project Name and Number: Saugatuck Watershed Partnership (CT) #2005-0191-028 Recipient: The Nature Conservancy Project Location: Weston, CT – Saugatuck River Watershed 1) Were the specific objectives as outlined in your application and grant agreement successfully implemented and accomplished? Explain. The objective of this project was to establish a watershed partnership and a watershed action plan for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity within the Saugatuck River Watershed. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) proposed to conduct three workshops using the TNC 5-S planning method to identify Systems, Severity and Scope of Stresses, Strategies and Success. Workshops involving 80 individuals representing over 25 organizations and all eleven towns within the watershed were conducted in February, July and October of 2005. Fifteen additional public meetings, presentations and smaller groups planning sessions were held before the grant‟s phase three ended March 30, 2006. 2) Please assess project accomplishments as quantitatively as possible. For example: a. Number of miles of stream/river corridor benefited. Categorize by type of benefit (e.g., protected, enhanced, restored, made accessible). N/A a. Total acres of land conserved. Categorize by conservation mechanism (e.g., restored, managed, acquired, placed under an easement) and by habitat type (e.g., wetland, deciduous forest, shortgrass prairie). N/A b. Species benefited. If possible, report number of individuals of each species. N/A c. Number of meetings/events held. Three planning workshops involving environmental scientists, members of various stakeholder groups and representatives from the watershed towns were held in 2005. Additionally, we hosted a second annual stream walk training program with NRCS in June, and a macroinvertebrate identification training and sampling in October, with the CT Department of Environmental Protection. d. Presentations made. Before the first planning workshop, a presentation was made to the chief elected officials of the watershed towns to describe the watershed and importance of watershed-scale conservation planning. Private presentations were given to six of the CEOs who were unable to attend that meeting. Four public presentations were given at various libraries in the watershed to invite public participation in the Saugatuck River Watershed conservation planning process. Presentations were also given to the Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited, The Redding Garden Club, The Redding Land Trust, at a Brown Bag Luncheon hosted by Westport‟s First Selectwoman, and to The Westport Conservation Commission.

- 1 – e. Publications and extent of distribution. The summary report, “An Introduction to the Saugatuck River Watershed and the Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership” was distributed to all chief elected officials, chairs of conservation commissions and town planning and zoning boards in each of the eleven watershed towns. The report was also sent to EPA‟s Long Island office and to all of the environmental experts who participated in the planning workshops including the CT. Department of Environmental Protection, The CT Department of Public Health, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Southwest Conservation District, Westport Earthplace, Aquarion Water Company, US Geologic Survey, Trout Unlimited and the Watershed Initiative. f. Other. The support for this partnership has come from throughout the watershed and across the state. The energy and enthusiasm being dedicated to strengthen the partnership, engage the public and develop collaborative programs with the towns is being hailed as a model for watersheds. (Jennifer Pagach – Connecticut Department of Public Health) 2) Assess the number of people reached through your work (e.g., landowners, students, organizations, agencies) Did other land managers benefit from the project?

It‟s estimated that over fifty thousand people live in the Saugatuck River Watershed, (town populations multiplied by percent of the town within the watershed). Throughout the year, our planning meetings, workshops, volunteer monitor training programs and public presentations were attended by more than three hundred people. Additionally, residents learned about the partnership through articles in the press, meeting stream walkers in the stream, and through word of mouth. 3) Were any surveys or interviews conducted with partners to help gauge the success of your efforts? Following the first planning workshop, a questionnaire was sent to each of the thirty participants seeking remarks about the TNC 5-S planning process, what they felt was missing in the process and what they felt would be critical to the partnership‟s success. 4) How will the project be evaluated in terms of monitoring or assessment of cause-and- effect response? Describe the evaluation timescale (e.g., one year, five years, ten years). How will monitoring results be reported? The project can currently be evaluated based on participation in, support for and awareness of the partnership. The most exciting and immediate outcome following the workshop series was the signing of a Conservation Compact by each of the eleven chief elected municipal officials from the watershed towns. This Conservation Compact, though voluntary, indicates the commitment of each of these municipal officials to work across town boundaries to help protect the natural resources within the Saugatuck River Watershed. In the days following the signing ceremony one of the selectman drafted a letter outlining concerns about a proposed development within the flood plain of the Saugatuck River in her town. She circulated the letter in which she outlined the potential negative affects to the watershed that the development could cause and asked that each of the town leaders support her request for denial of the development - 2 – application. Each of the town leaders signed the letters and it was submitted to the Redding conservation commission at the public hearing on the development that week. The developer has withdrawn his application. Currently, a small planning group is meeting to define the structure of the partnership and identify those proposed action steps that are our first priority. The success of the partnership will be measured this year by the number of stakeholder groups who maintain an active role in the partnership. During the next five years our success will be measured by public awareness of the Saugatuck River Watershed, the public‟s interest in helping to protect it, the successful completion of action steps and the funding we are able to garner to support our work. We propose to draft and distribute an annual report following the format of the introductory report we published in March. This report will provide readers with information about the activities of the partnership, the status of projects, condition of conservation targets and plans for the future. Each year the report will provide a financial overview and an update of the Partnership‟s action plan. 5) Does this project fit into a larger program, spatially or temporally? If so, how has that program benefited from your work? (For example, an easement or on-the-ground work that connects or benefits other protected properties.)

The Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership fits into a larger Nature Conservancy planning effort to protect aquatic systems throughout our project areas. The Saugatuck Forest Lands Project encompasses the entire Saugatuck River Watershed and contains two eco-regional targets, the Saugatuck River and the Saugatuck Forest a forest block of over 15,000 acres. In The Nature Conservancy‟s Connecticut Chapter‟s FY „06-„08 Strategic Plan, the “development and promotion of local watershed plans as a means to implement conservation work and build private and public conservation support” was the second strategy after land acquisition to address the objective of “maintaining or improving the chemical, sediment and temperature regimes of priority streams and rivers, and thereby maintain or improve the viability of riparian and benthic habitats.” The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Diadromous Fish Program has targeted this watershed for diadromous fish passage restoration and the CT DEP seeks to develop watershed partnerships across the state to enhance and protect watershed health. 6) Does the project incorporate an adaptive management component? If so, please explain. Any lessons learned that will guide future implementation of this, or similar, projects? N/A 7) Was there a local/regional/national response? Any media/press involvement?

Local newspapers have reported on the Saugatuck River Watershed Planning workshops and distributed notices of meetings and volunteer opportunities. After the publication of the watershed report and the signing of the Conservation Compact we attracted many more reporters and even NPR which aired a short story about watershed scale planning including a quote from the Nature Conservancy‟s Connecticut State Director, Lise Hanners. - 3 – 8) To what degree has this project contributed to the conservation community as a whole? The project has brought representatives of state, federal, regional and local stakeholder groups to the table to discuss the watershed, its health and the opportunities/advantages of working together. The conservation community will be stronger because of this leadership and initiative. 9) Did your work bring in additional partners, more landowners, et cetera, who would be interested in doing similar work on their land in the future? If so, please describe. The growing awareness of the Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership has helped us to successfully identify and work with dam owners to discuss opportunities to improve upstream passage for diadromous fish. The Partnership was invited to comment at various local commission hearings regarding development proposals in the watershed, to work with a local land trust on modification or removal of perched culverts to improve fish passage on a stream, to assess a ponded property for another land trust who would like to understand the impacts their dam has on the stream and how dam removal or installation of a fishway could improve the health of the stream. This project was turned into a NOAA/American Rivers grant proposal and we were awarded $25,000 to complete the assessment. 10) Do you have any suggestions for NFWF to guide improvement of our project administration? I should have contacted NFWF during the project to use your staff as a sounding board. This was my first project of this type and my first grant award, so I am learning how to make better use of available resources. In the future, I will check in with supporters during the project to take advantage of their expertise and guidance. I do feel fortunate that I had so many capable people involved in the partnership planning, including specific project development with Lisa Cavallaro of NOAA, Laura Wildman of American Rivers, Rich Orson of Save the Sound and many of the fisheries biologists and other staff from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Please share any additional information that you feel is important to the evaluation of your program.

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