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Example Plan Vision, Goals
Basics of Developing Mission, Vision

Resource Vision and Goals

Watershed planning involves writing down a vision and goals to help guide your planning process. This work will

lay the foundation for measuring your success. Developing goals is iterative with assessing your watershed conditions and understanding resource potential. However, at the outset an overriding goal for the watershed and a set of general goals will help you "get started" with your planned outreach activities and work priority setting.

A vision statement is an idealized description of a desired outcome that inspires, energizes and helps you create a mental picture of your target. To achieve the best results, the vision will describe outcomes that are five to ten years away, although some look even further out.

What is your vision for the aquatic ecosystem in 20 to 50 years?
What are the goals for water quality, riparian areas, aquatic plant management, fisheries, and recreation?

Examples of overarching goals include:

To protect and restore the biological and physical health of -------- Creek and its tributaries.
To reestablish natural hydrologic processes in the -------- watershed.
To enhance the biological diversity and ecological functions in the -------- watershed.

Once the overarching goal is established, developing concrete goals around which resource characterizations, assessments and specific work recommendations can be developed will make your plan much more concrete.

Prevent further degradation of the water quality in -------- creek and its tributaries.
Increase the connectivity of riparian corridors watershedwide.
Increase active partnerships with local and regional stakeholders for long-term resource protection.
Minimize resource impact and provide incentives for enhanced resource protection.

Ecological Landscapes

One of the first places to visit when creating your watershed's vision and goals is the state's "Ecological Landscapes" website. By summarizing the ecological "type" or landscape in which the watershed exists, you can derive a general sense of the watershed's possible "restored" condition. To develop an ecologically sound a long-term vision, we should envision what the resources look like, how they function, and how the human community interacts with resources. The difference between this vision and the current resource condition will help target specific goals and related actions to move to an improved resource state.

Ecological Landscape classifications can be used in setting realistic restoration goals for your watershed and in understanding what types of restoration activities would be most successful. Ecological landscapes have unique combinations of physical and biological characteristics, such as climate, geology, soils, water, or vegetation. Ecological Landscape Aquatic Communities have unique combinations of biological productivity, habitat suitability for wildlife, and presence of rare species and natural communities.

For more information on resource visioning or ecological landscapes see:

Ecological Landscapes (WDNR)

Incorporating Visioning into Comprehensive Planning