CBC In Chico

Sacramento River Watershed Program

By Dennis Bowker, SRWP

The Sacramento River Watershed Program (SRWP) provides a venue where stakeholder interests can be heard and knowledge shared. It gives regional expression to a series of local efforts while preserving the integrity of those efforts.

The Program operates through consensus-based collaboration, partnerships, the coordination of research and monitoring, and the enhancement of mutual education among the stakeholders of the Sacramento River watershed.

SRWP aims to promote and support local partnerships to ensure that both current and potential uses of the Sacramento River watershed's resources are sustained, restored, and where possible, enhanced, while promoting the long–term social and economic vitality of the region.

The Program consists of a General Stakeholder Committee along with a series of topical subcommittees and special focus work groups. Standing subcommittees include Biological and Habitat, Monitoring, Grants, Toxics, and a Public Outreach and Education subcommittee. The Grants subcommittee manages funds received through the US EPA to implement a Sacramento River Toxic Pollutant Control Program. Special work groups include an Organophosphate Pesticide Focus Group, the Delta Tributaries Mercury Council, and a Communications Work Group.

General Stakeholder Committee meetings are held twice per year in varying sites throughout the watershed. The Committee sponsors special workshops on various technical topics through the Public Outreach and Education subcommittee each year. Recent events have included a What is a Healthy Watershed? seminar and a Stewardship Watershed Management workshop.

There are no formal requirements for membership in the General Stakeholder Committee, the subcommittees, or focus work groups. All are open to anyone wishing to participate.

More information about the SRWP, its subcommittees, documents, and schedules is available on the SWRP website (www.sacriver.org), or by placing a toll-free call to the SRWP Resource Center, (888) 815-3330.