Mission
The mission of the Big
Thompson Watershed Forum is to protect and
improve water quality in the Big Thompson
Watershed through collaborative monitoring,
assessment, education and restoration projects.
Our goals are to serve as a forum that fosters
stakeholder teamwork in conducting watershed assessment, identifying priority protection
measures, educating affected interests, and promoting voluntary practices that protect the
Big Thompson Watershed and the quality of its waters. Water quantity issues are an
integral and indispensable aspect of water quality and will be addressed as such by this
Forum.
Our Objectives
In pursuit of its mission and goals the Big
Thompson Watershed Forum will endeavor to:
- build an effective voluntary watershed protection
program that fosters open communication and cooperation among stakeholders, with strong
public and financial support based on documented accomplishment of its objectives.
- facilitate cooperative water quality assessment and
the voluntary exchange of information in order to identify and address water quality
concerns in a proactive manner.
- reduce or eliminate existing and potential water
quality problems in the Big Thompson Watershed by providing educational programs that
increase awareness of water quality and related quantity issues; by developing and/or
supporting voluntary operating practices that address existing and potential water quality
problems; and by providing water quality and watershed related information to any party
that has the potential to impact water quality within the Big Thompson Watershed.
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History
In l996, the North Front Range Water Quality
Planning Association, with funding from the cities of Loveland and Greeley, Larimer
County, and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, completed a preliminary
watershed study of the Big Thompson River. This study recommended the establishment of a
collaborative watershed management effort to address the need for
- Scientifically sound studies of the effects of our
activities on water quality.
- An effective communication network among
stakeholders.
- An educational program to increase public awareness
of the watershed and associated water quality.
When the final report was presented to the public,
a group of concerned people representing private citizens and government agencies endorsed
the formation of a watershed forum. This was the beginning of the Big Thompson Watershed
Forum.
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