Abstract:
The Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial
Management Practices (WEBs) project
was initiated in April 2004 to assess the
environmental and economic performance
of selected agricultural beneficial
management practices (BMPs) at seven
small watersheds across Canada. Under
the Agriculture Policy Framework (APF),
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
has been the main funding agency, with
Ducks Unlimited Canada as a key funding
partner. Over 40 other federal, provincial,
municipal, academic and non-governmental
organizations are also partners in the
project. This report is a summary of the
project’s first four years (April 2004 – March
2008).
The need to validate the performance of
selected BMPs in a watershed setting was
a primary reason for initiating WEBs—with
informing future policy and programming
decision making as a desired end result.
The costs and environmental benefits of
BMPs have seldom been measured beyond
small plot and field experiments. Few of
these practices have been evaluated at
the watershed scale where the combined
effects of soils, topography and land use
may significantly alter anticipated results.WEBs has contributed improved knowledge regarding the value of
agricultural BMPs. It is one of the first
studies in Canada to assess both the
environmental and economic performance
of BMPs at a watershed scale. Innovative,
interdisciplinary research at the seven
WEBs watershed sites is bringing us
a step closer to achieving improved
water quality in agricultural landscapes.
WEBs also maintains a close working
relationship with the Conservation Effects
Assessment Project (CEAP) of the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
providing a partnership for the exchange of
information and lessons learned between
projects having similar objectives.
