To select two watersheds that will work well in the participatory framework and the landscape modeling framework, we considered the following criteria:
| Missisquoi | Otter Creek | Lamoille | St. Albans Bay | Inner Mallets Bay | |
| Size | LARGE | LARGE | LARGE | Small | Small |
| TMDL | 40.1 mt/year; 43% | 4.5 mt/yr; 15% | 2 mt/yr; 28% | 4.5 mt/yr; 15% | |
| Timing | Begin 2004 | Begin 2002 | Just finished 2 year watershed plan | Began Summer 2003 | Began Summer 2002 |
| Spatial Data | Partial soil/geology. No dwellings. Landuse 1990s | Partial soil/geology. No dwellings. Landuse 1990s | Partial soil/geology. No dwellings. Landuse 1990s | No dwellings. Landuse 1990s | Most complete |
| USGS Flow Data | Yes | Yes | Yes | Historica data | Historic data |
| Water Quality Data | 1990s (not a lot) | USGS (past 3 years) | None known | Lots from 1980s. Current efforts | Town collected bacteria data. |
| Interested Stakeholder Group | Active citizen group. No wshed coordinator (ANR) yet. | Interested. Primarily gov. agencies. Ethan Swift (ANR) interested. | Stakeholder group just finished plan. Jim Ryan (ANR) interested except for timing. | Very interested. Citizen netowrk and gov. agencies involved. Karen Bates (ANR) interested | Town interested in model. Karen Bates (ANR) interested. |
| Complimentary Projects | Historic BMP (Meals). | Meals and Cassell on spatial ag model | None known. | Historic: RCWP Current: Citizen monitoring and education. | Recent WW grant. Strategic Water Plan Bacteria monitoring |
| Major Issues | Phosphorus | Phosphorus | Dam removal. Phosphorus. Erosion. | Phosphorus. Stormwater. Sprawl | Bacteria/WWT. Nutrients. Sprawl |