The Watershed Agricultural Council partners with hundreds of farm and forest landowners in the New York City Watershed region to ensure their lands stay within a working context. Keeping over 2,000 miles of Watershed lands productive and part of a growing economy is no easy task. Add in the challenge of delivering over one billion gallons of fresh, clean drinking water to nine million New Yorkers each day. Together with Watershed landowners and various partnering agencies, the Council achieves a two-part solution to a growing need: protecting clean water by ensuring working landscapes in agriculture and forestry. These working landscapes, in turn, provide pure food raised on family farms and strong local economies based on thriving farm operations and wood businesses based on healthy forests. All three are a direct result of innovative approaches in Watershed management. The Council uses: • Whole Farms Plans, • Forest Management Plans, • Conservation Easements and • Economic Initiatives to help farmers, forest professionals and private landholders address water pollution concerns on properties located in the Croton and Catskill/Delaware Watersheds.