This spring Ipswich River Watershed Association is excited to officially launch our Resilient Rivers Program, underpinned by a three-person team, to expand the organization’s work. The program was created in response to the critical need to increase the pace and impact of our work. The team will consist of our Environmental Educator, Watershed Resiliency Planner, and a newly created position: Resiliency Program Director.
“Resilient Rivers” is a great buzz word, but what does it actually mean? Resiliency is all about “future-proofing” our watershed so that it is better able to withstand future changes, remaining a healthy and functioning ecosystem. We think about resiliency work in partnership with our restoration work: restoration primarily aims to undo historical damage to our watershed while resiliency is about avoiding future damage.
We know that the Ipswich River Watershed will change in the future, due to climate change and from population and economic growth. IRWA’s Resiliency team is focused on a variety of initiatives to ensure that the decisions we are making now, collectively and individually, are in the best long-term interests of the watershed.
IRWA’s education program, led for the past 6 months by our first full-time Environmental Educator, Emma Hughen, aims to increase the resilience of the watershed by fostering and supporting environmental advocates fighting to protect the health of our river. For our youngest participants, this means educating them on what a watershed is, how it functions, and the role that people play in it. For our youth advocates and our adult audiences, we aim to raise the next generation of river advocates, highlighting how anyone can effectively advocate on behalf of the Ipswich River. We are especially excited this spring and summer to be working with the Ipswich-Rowley Rotary to expand our network of advocates and bring education about water conservation to new audiences. Finally, our education program aims to foster a love of the river and the watershed for participants of all ages through our Floating River Classroom Program.
The Resiliency team is also working to grow the overall impact of our long-standing partnerships by increasing their capacity. The Greenscapes North Shore Coalition pairs IRWA with Salem Sound Coastwatch to the south and Merrimack Valley Planning Commission to the north to tackle our joint priorities of promoting effective stormwater management throughout the region and spreading the word about water conservation. This coalition is working with decision-makers within town and city governments on a number of bylaw revision projects to codify best-management practices for our watershed. The Resiliency team’s expanded capacity also enables us to strengthen the PIE-Rivers Partnership, a network of restoration and environmental stewardship practitioners across our region. The PIE-Rivers partners have had recent success getting federal and state funding for implementation of a number of on-the-ground projects. We are thrilled to be moving into an implementation phase after a methodical planning process and are looking forward to helping partner organizations and communities execute on their plans to future-proof our watershed.
IRWA’s established advocacy work will also fall under the umbrella of the new River Resiliency Program. We continue to advocate for legislation and regulations that will protect the health of the watershed, especially as it relates to water quantity and conservation, the number one issue facing the Ipswich River. IRWA’s team also advocates for responsible watershed stewardship within our municipalities because they truly hold the key to the future of the River in their hands. The newly expanded Watershed Watchdogs initiative (2023) aims to engage people across the watershed to help protect the river from development impacts and advance watershed stewardship in their communities.
All of the initiatives that fall under the purview of the River Resiliency Program work together to engage stakeholders at various levels to safeguard the future of our watershed. IRWA is the only organization that takes a holistic, watershed-based approach to environmental stewardship in our region. This work is critical to ensuring that the Ipswich River continues to provide everything we rely on it for: clean drinking water for our communities, habitat for fish and wildlife, and the opportunity for outdoor recreation. We look forward to working with you, our members, on this expanded River Resiliency program.