The Western Lake Erie Basin Partnership is a tri-state partnership dedicated to enhancing land and water resource management in the basin to promote a healthy productive watershed and improve water quality. The WLEB encompasses nearly 6 million acres of land drained by the Maumee, Portage and Ottawa Rivers. It spans 29 counties in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) first launched the Partnership in 2005, bringing together senior leaders from 14 Federal, State, and regional organizations.

Partners signed a Charter in 2006 outlining the purpose as follow:

• The Partnership is committed to collaboration and consensus building – sharing resources and knowledge to link land use to water quality, support ongoing efforts and identify new opportunities to enhance and improve the watershed.
• The Partnership will apply watershed-based solutions to local problems and apply local solutions to watershed problems -inclusively empowering and building the capacity of local watershed groups and supporting ongoing efforts.
• The Partnership is results oriented – it will define the baseline status of the basin, identify and prioritize science based solutions, responsibly support the implementation of innovative and cooperative projects, monitor and evaluate its actions and support an adaptive management approach.
• The Partnership will speak with one voice, promote transparency, encourage participation, be responsive, create awareness, educate and inform.
• The Partnership will provide the structure necessary to coordinate public and private resources across political boundaries to accelerate achievement of environmental goals and support for local conservation initiatives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office became a tri-chair of the Partnership in October 2023, and the charter was updated in 2024.