The Integrated Watershed Restoration Program (IWRP) grew out of a series of watershed assessments and plans in the late 1990s and early 2000s and has evolved to meet the recognized need for a coordinated, regional process for identifying, funding, and developing key projects to improve fish and wildlife habitat and water quality. Through its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), IWRP brings together federal, state, and local resource and funding agencies to select and oversee the design and implementation of high priority projects to restore watersheds, first in Santa Cruz County and now also across San Mateo and Monterey Counties. Over the past decades IWRP has been wildly successful in both implementing critical projects and developing a culture of trust and collaboration. IWRP has won national and statewide recognition and continues to be the go-to program for coordinated regional recovery planning, resilience planning, innovating and testing new techniques and technologies, as well as mediation and facilitation to resolve difficult and complex resource needs.
To date the State Coastal Conservancy’s cumulative $9.3 million investment in developing the IWRP program and designing and permitting projects through IWRP has leveraged well over $41 million in implementation investment to complete over 180 restoration projects to-date.
Without IWRP, there wouldn’t be a pipeline of high-priority, well-designed restoration projects that are ready to go for construction funding. This collaborative effort has advanced the pace and scale of coastal watershed restoration in Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Monterey counties and continues to do so due to the time and energy our federal, state, and local resource agencies and conservation partners put into IWRP - Hilary Hill, Project Manager
Want to Learn More About IWRP?
Conservation benefit: Increase the pace and scale of watershed restoration on the Central Coast through inter-agency collaboration and engagement.
Partners:
California Coastal Commission
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Counties of Monterey, San Mateo and Santa Cruz
NOAA Fisheries
Resource Conservation District of Monterey County
Regional Water Quality Control Boards
San Mateo Resource Conservation District
State Coastal Conservancy
US Fish and Wildlife Service
US Army Corps of Engineers
USDA Natural Resources Conservation District
Wildlife Conservation Board
Funders:
California State Coastal Conservancy
Multiple for Construction
RCD Contact: Daniel Nylen
