What is a watershed?

A watershed acts like a funnel. It is the land area that drains water to a particular stream, river, or lake. It is a land feature that can be identified by tracing a line along the highest elevations between two areas on a map, often a ridge.

The diagram below suggests a typical watershed that starts with small headwater streams in the higher elevations of the drainage basin. Water flows downhill from the drainage divide into larger streams, eventually joining a river. As more tributary streams join the river, the volume of water increases. This river eventually flows downstream into an even larger river at the confluence.

The Benzie Conservation District is now in its sixth year of coordinating and conducting water resource protection projects. Our efforts have been focused at the watershed level and have previously included the Platte River and Herring Lakes drainage basins.

Funds for projects in the Betsie Bay watershed are actively being sought, which include management plan development and water quality monitoring. We also have our sights on implementation projects in the Platte River and Herring Lakes Watersheds.

All projects follow the watershed planning and implementation approach developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Watershed Management has become a standard approach for comprehensive water resource management and protection.

Click on the links below to learn about the work that we have competed in each watershed!

Platte River Watershed

Herring Lakes Watershed

Betsie Bay Watershed

Crystal Lake Watershed