Charles River Watershed Association Inc.

Filing Period

Oct 1, 2012 to Sep 30, 2013

Signed

Aug 7, 2014

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$1,356,918

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Advocacy & educationadvocacy:crwa is involved in every major decision affecting the river. Advocacy includes lobbying the massachusetts legislature for and against environmental and water-related legislation and funding, reviewing all major projects in the watershed, challenging permits administratively and occasionally in court, appearing before local boards and commissions, protecting public trust lands and access to parklands, and working with many partner organizations on issues of national, state and regional significance such as climate change, smart growth and water resource protection. Crwa's strong science supports and informs its advocacy and the positions crwa adopts.education:crwa's work to promote better watershed management and river stewardship includes a wide range of outreach and educational programming, including: a comprehensive website and online communications; the publication of brochures, plans and reports; educational talks and presentations; trainings and workshops; and participation in many local and regional events and activities. Crwa hosts numerous student interns each year, and supports the rita barron fellowship, a one year position for a young professional entering the fields of watershed science and management. Crwa is quoted regularly in the media and hosts many national and international groups for educational and networking purposes.twinning:crwa is committed to sharing best practices and expanding knowledge exchange with other watershed restoration practitioners. With funding from the international riverfoundation as part of the riverprize, crwa has developed a three-year river restoration "twinning" project for the urban rivers in jarabacoa, dominican republic with three partners: the nature conservancy dominican republic; plan yaque, a local non-governmental organization; and the national environmental school, a post-secondary school. The project involves community engagement, the development and support of volunteer "citizen scientists;" training and capacity building for local partners, and the development of a long-term river restoration plan.

Activity 3

Blue cities initiative:under the blue cities initiative, crwa designs and promotes green infrastructure techniques for managing stormwater in urban areas. The goal is to mimic the natural hydrologic cycle through pilot projects on both public and private properties, as well as to conduct research, planning and design.crwa works with numerous municipalities both within and beyond the watershed on blue cities urban greening efforts. Crwa was appointed by former boston mayor thomas menino to serve on the boston's complete streets advisory committee to create "green" guidelines for street development, which are now available online. Greening projects have been completed by crwa in the allston neighborhood of boston, peabody square in dorchester, the city of chelsea and the massachusetts towns of franklin, blackstone and bellingham. These projects which are models for better site design, serve to educate the public on the importance of stormwater management and provide developers with low impact stormwater retrofit information.blue cities national:crwa continues to work with a group of partners to develop blue cities projects in other parts of the country. Crwa worked with river network, econorthwest and earth's voices our choices to complete the blue cities designs for several sites in the city of rochester, michigan. In the summer of 2012, the city of rochester won a stream restoration grant that will enable several of the designs to be constructed beginning in 2013. Crwa's design recommendations have also been incorporated in the municipal planning guidelines by the cities of rochester, michigan and rochester hills, michigan.

Filer

EIN

04-6136989