| Sector | Practical Step(s) | |||
| Land-Use Planning Within a Watershed | Develop partnership agreement for watershed planning and management | Identify and empower an "umbrella" watershed organization for coordination | Compile inventory of ecosystem features and incorporate into geographical information system for decision-making | Develop policies and ordinances to preserve and enhance ecosystem features |
| Point Source Polution | Perform internal full cost accounting on all products, processes, and services | Ensure multi-media assessment of loadings and impacts | Establish multi-media permitting for facilities | Incorporate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into all regulatory and incentive-based initiatives to control point sources |
| Nonpoint Source Pollution | Provide ecological assessments to landowners for protection and enhancement of unique ecological features | Use ecological inventory to priortize nonpoint source control actions throughout the watershed | Develop whole farm plans to reduce nonpoint source pollution, enhance habitat, maintain hydrology, and enhance economic viability | Develop and implement an illicit connection program for sewer systems in urban areas |
| Habitat | Incorporate habitat protection into master, land-use, and watershed plans, zoning ordinances, etc. | Seek permanent protection of ecologically significant habitats by purchasing land, establishing easements, etc. | Establish citizen stewardship program to help inventory habitat and work with landowners and agency people to enhance habitat | Enshure that all construction and maintenance projects for structures (e.g. breakwalls, piers) address secondary benefits of incidental habitat |
| Transportation | Ensure democratic transportation planning processes with ecosystem education component | Achieve greater multi-modal balance within bioregions | Ensure bioregional coordination of transportation plans | Utilize economic and market incentives to ensure full cost accounting in transportation planning |
| Economic Development for Sustainability | Establish watershed as unit for visioning, planning, and management for environmentatlly-sustainable economic development | Ensure full cost and benefits are assessed for each project in watershed | Ensure best management plan manuals incorporate economic and non-economic benefits and costs for affected parties | Governments should make greater use of economic instruments to achieve win-win solutions for environment and economy |
| Human Resource Development and Education | Perform stratgic analysis of ecosystem messages and audience | Ensure strategic development of shared acitons, with appropriate communicaitons, evaluation, and follup-upo | Ensure adequate education and human resource development on practical application of an ecosystem approach within governments | Use governmental outreach programs to show how an ecosystem approach can be used to establish a stewardship ethic among stakeholders |