We are excited to announce that the Ipswich River Watershed Association was recently awarded the Water Quality Restoration Program (WQRP) Roadmap Pilot Grant by the Division of Ecological Restoration (DER). This grant program seeks to increase the ability of both communities and watershed organizations to achieve measurable water quality improvements and protections.
Prior to the start of this project DER developed a framework for organizations to follow which would result in an individualized action plan or ‘Roadmap’. Integral to this pilot program process will be for us to provide feedback on the framework such that it can be utilized by other communities and watershed groups in the future. An exciting aspect of this process will be to identify target audiences for water quality goals and then utilize social marketing audience research to elicit feedback and refine goals as needed.
We look forward to providing input on the Roadmap process as it progresses and to aiding DER with developing an easy-to-use framework that can streamline water quality improvements for not just the Ipswich River, but for all interested Massachusetts communities and watershed organizations.
Congratulations to all of you who have participated in this impressive program! We appreciate all of you dedication and work to the River.