A watershed is all of the land area from which stormwater runoff drains to a given body of surface water. Watershed management focuses on land use activities throughout a watershed with the goal of preventing polluted runoff from those activities from reaching surface water. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as providing areas of natural vegetation for runoff water to flow through, by directing it to areas where it can soak into the ground, or by taking steps to prevent the water from becoming polluted in the first place. Due to its diffuse nature, polluted runoff has not been effectively managed through regulatory programs alone.

Watershed management also involves a number of other activities, such as identifying pollution problems in a watershed; educating landowners on practices they can adopt to keep water clean; and monitoring the condition of receiving waters to determine if the water is being adequately protected or restored.
The Maine DEP webpage on reducing water pollution provides resource handbooks, best practices, and guides on:
Buffer Handbook
​PDF format - A Guide to Creating Vegetated Buffers for Lakefront Properties (1998). This 20-page handbook provides information about landscaping your shoreline for lake protection and helps you get started on planning and planting your shoreline. 

Buffer Handbook Plant List
PDF format - This 50-page publication contains a listing of and details about trees, shrubs, and groundcovers that could be used in planting or improving a buffer in Maine. Plant descriptions include scientific and common names, sun and soil requirements, plant hardiness zone, plant characteristics, and native status. This publication was updated in 2009 to include more native species and to remove species that are now known to be or suspected of being invasive. 

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