A: A watershed is an area of land that naturally or artificially drains all water within the land, tributaries and rivers into a common destination such as a stream or lake. A sub-watershed is a smaller unit of land or catchment area that drains into a tributary of a main watercourse. The boundaries of land are normally defined by the area's topography so any drop of rain that falls will generally end up in the same place.

A: A watershed approach uses hydrologically defined areas (watersheds) to coordinate the management of natural resources. The approach is advantageous because it considers all activities within a landscape that affects watershed health. Ideally, a watershed approach will integrate biology, chemistry, economics, and social considerations into decision making. It considers local grass roots leadership and provincial goals and regulations. A watershed approach recognizes needs for water supply, water quality, flood control, soil management, fisheries, biodiversity, habitat preservation, and recreation: and it recognizes that these needs often compete. It establishes local priorities in the context of provincial goals and coordinates public and private actions. A watershed approach offers a blue print for water resource management.

A: Watersheds perform many important functions as they capture, store and release water, including the materials within and the energy moving it. If altered, especially in an unplanned way, the function may become impaired such as reduced groundwater recharge, intensified flow and sedimentation, bank erosion, loss of fish and wildlife - These eventualities will ultimately affect us so healthy, intact watersheds are vital to healthy living and a sustainable economy.

Therefore, we need to find some way of protecting these ecosystems while still benefiting society and our economy. This is no easy task however, watershed philosophy and management is tool to try to accomplish this goal.

A fundamental goal of any program or initiative undertake by or being evaluated by a C.D Board is to answer affirmative to the following question - Is it sustainable, is it beneficial to the watershed, will it have a positive impact downstream does it improve the quality of life?

A watershed is an example of an ecosystem thus C.D's have been developed on an ecosystem basis. Ecosystem - based management is a relatively new concept by attempting to establish their boundaries based on these ecological borders decades ago. Again, Key to describing a water shed is that they are an ecosystem with interacting parts.

A: An ecosystem is the living (plants, animals, invertebrates, etc) and non-living ( rock, soil, water, etc), components of an area as well as the processes such as decomposition all functioning as a system. An ecosystem is the sum of all the biological and non-biological parts of an area that interact to cause plants to grow and decay, soils or sediments to form, and the chemistry of water to change. If all these are in place, an ecosystem is said to have ecological integrity. We all rely on intact ecosystems to clean polluted water and air, as well as to provide food and fiber.

A: The complicated way of explaining the concept is; ecological integrity occurs when the structure and function of an ecosystem remains unimpaired. The test for ecological integrity is how easily an ecosystem can bounce back after a stress has been place on it. In other words, when an area contains its entire native species and its natural historical processes such as fire, decomposition, and climate function like they did historically, the area is said to be healthy, or to have ecological integrity. It is thought that an area with ecological integrity is more capable of rebounding from stresses, which is beneficial to all involved.

A: Sustainable natural resources management is using or not using the natural resources in a way that will leave the resources unimpaired for future generations. In other words, maintaining the ecological integrity of the watershed so that it remains healthy for us and for future generations. Wise management of these resources is based on informed decisions and proper holistic planning using ecological integrity as the premise on which decisions are made.

A: Water management begins when the first drop of rain hits the ground, sometimes even sooner, around the kitchen table, office or discussing environmental or economic issues with friends and neighbors.

Watershed management, as demonstrated by the C.D Program, strives to be a form of sustainable natural resources management and ecosystem-based management. This type of management uses natural watershed boundaries as the geographical area of managing human activity to protect and rehabilitate land and water resources and the associated terrestrial and aquatic resources while acknowledging social and economic development. Striving for ecological integrity through watershed management benefits the environment, and the social and economic status of Manitoba.

A: There are distinct phases necessary for proper holistic planning through watershed management so that informed decisions can be made. The first step is to identify the natural resources, social fabric, and economics of the watershed referred to as the resource backgrounder and/or resource inventory. The second phase is presenting and encouraging public participation through a series of open houses to discuss the issues and options for resource management. The third phase is combining all the comments, data, reports and forming the management plan. The fourth step is C.D program development and implementation to meet the objectives and goals of the C.D. The final step is to ensure that public funds are being allocated in a justifiable and accountable fashion.