Photo by E.C. Stanley
Section 2: Getting started
Multi-objective planning
Community readiness
Watershed residents bring multiple concerns
and a variety of potential solutions to public
watershed discussions. These issues include
flooding, water quality, economic vitality,
and conservation of natural resources. When
residents are involved in a watershed
management planning process they are
engaging in multi-objective planning. To
achieve these objectives, effective
watershed groups will partner with other
residents, public agencies, and private
organizations and businesses to:
Each watershed community is uniquely
different in its physical, social, political,
and economic organization. This
uniqueness will affect how ready
community members are to undertake a
group effort to solve watershed problems.
To test the readiness of the watershed
you’re working with, answer the questions
on the following page. Ask several local
leaders including Soil and Water
Conservation District Commissioners and
District Conservationists to take the test.
4 Inventory watershed resources and
If you answer “yes” to any of the questions
on the following page, your community
may be ready to tackle some watershed
management initiatives. If you answer
“yes” to the majority of these questions,
you have a very “hot” community topic.
Residents are ready to develop a local
group to address their water issues. If you
circle a lot of, “Don’t Know,” you need to
collect more information about what
people are thinking and talking about.
Talk to community leaders, landowners,
businesses, and residents of the region to
determine how important water issues are.
conditions
4 Analyze watershed problems
4 Establish watershed goals and objectives
4 Consider best management practices and
solutions to achieve goals and objectives
4 Develop effective action plans
4 Engage in implementing action plans
4 Monitor actions and changes in the
watershed and water quality
4 Evaluate progress toward watershed
goals; realign goals, activities, and
outcomes as situations change
4 Become a dynamic group as goals/
situations within the watershed change
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-1
Community Readiness
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Yes
No
Don’t
Know
Is water quality or quantity a topic of informal
discussions when residents get together?
1
2
3
Do people talk about swimming, boating, and
fishing in local waters?
1
2
3
In the last year or so, has your watershed been in the
news? Have there been newspaper, radio or TV
stories, letters to the editor and opinion pieces about
flooding or local water quality/quantity problems?
1
2
3
Do you have one or more local groups that feel
passionate about the environment and are involved
in activities to improve it?
1
2
3
Are residents “showing up” at planning board, town
council, or county supervisor meetings and
expressing concern about the impact of development
on the environment?
1
2
3
Are leaders and staff of agencies and organizations
promoting watershed management planning and are
they willing to listen to and involve citizens?
1
2
3
Are farmers and landowners searching for solutions
to soil and nutrient loss to reduce input costs and
retain soil productivity?
1
2
3
Do you have business leaders who want to draw new
business to the region and see water resources as a
valuable amenity?
1
2
3
Do the people in the watershed drink the water from
their watershed region?
1
2
3
Has a water crisis occurred in the last 5 years
(flooding, drought, accidental chemical spills,
discovery of an endangered species)?
1
2
3
Is the watershed on the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) 303d impaired waters list? (This
watershed is a prime candidate for state and federal
regulation and intervention.)
1
2
3
L.W. Morton. 2002. “Community Readiness.” Department of Sociology, Iowa State University.
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
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Time and commitment
Community watershed management is a
long-term commitment. It may take a year
or two for a local group to form and
develop plans for activities and strategies
to achieve their vision for the watershed.
Short and medium term projects will help
sustain resident involvement and interest.
Until the group is formed and recognized
by local decision making bodies, it will be
at risk of falling apart. If local residents
perceive that they are unable to contribute
to the public decision making process
about how land within the watershed is
managed, they will lose interest and leave
the group.
Since successful watershed groups bring
together a diversity of interests in the
watershed, it is often appropriate—indeed
necessary—to select an outside facilitator
who can focus on involving all segments
of the community in the new organization.
The facilitator’s role is to:
• encourage the group to persist,
• offer guidance in developing the group
structure, and
• moderate and facilitate the group
discussions until leadership structure is
in place.
(See Section 3 for more details on the role
of the facilitator.)
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
Forming the first core group:
A planning committee to involve
residents
It only takes one motivated person to see
the need for citizen involvement in a
watershed and a willingness to act. (See
Section 5 for an overview of the Process of
Group Formation, Figure 5.4.) That one
person can become a catalyst by finding
others with similar concerns. This core
group of people provides the initial
impetus for community action. The goal of
this group is to bring together landowners,
residents, and other stakeholders to talk
about their watershed. A plan might
include the following:
What: A face-to-face community meeting
where watershed residents can talk with
each other.
Planning Committee: Ask 4-7 people to
form a working committee to plan the
community meeting. Include people who
represent different sectors of the
community (e.g., farmer, rural resident,
urban and suburban residents, environmentalist) as well as those who have a
passion and concern for the environment.
Who to Invite: All landowners, farm
operators, and residents of the watershed;
also businesses, industries, government
agencies and institutions located in the
watershed. See Figure 2.1 for more
examples. Invitations can be mailed to all
residents. In person, word-of-mouth
invitations or phone calls are the most
2-3
effective. Posters, announcements at group
meetings, radio and newspaper notices will
also encourage and remind residents to
attend.
When: Choose a date and time when most
of the landowners can attend. Some groups
have chosen a week night, 7-9 p.m.; larger
watershed groups have convened an allday meeting, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Avoid planting
and harvest seasons to ensure farmers can
attend.
Where: Choose a neutral location, e.g.,
library, city hall, or community center,
where everyone will feel comfortable.
Some of these costs can be covered
through donations from organizations and
agencies involved in the planning process.
A sponsoring agency (Resource
Conservation & Development [RC&D],
Cooperative Extension, Soil & Water
Conservation District [SWCD] office,
municipal water agencies) can provide
valuable in-kind support and coordination.
If additional funds are needed, the
planning group will need to explore small
grants or in-kind support from the SWCD
office and/or make personal requests to
local businesses, Farm Bureau, churches,
and groups like Trees Forever and Izaak
Walton League.
Agenda: The goal of the meeting is to
identify residents and others who are
willing to form a local watershed group. A
community development facilitator can
help shape the agenda. Section 4 of this
manual offers details on developing an
agenda and conducting the meeting.
Budget: Costs of the meeting may include:
♦ room rental
♦ invitations to the meeting: invitation
design, printing, and mailing (postage)
♦ community posters about the meeting
♦ facilitator
♦ refreshments
♦ handouts (maps, educational materials,
and sign-up forms)
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-4
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Figure 2.1. Invitations to the community meeting should include primary stakeholders and all sectors
that are affected by the watershed
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-5
Community Meeting Checklist
q Form a planning committee of 4-7 members who represent multiple
watershed interests. This core group will probably be the core of the
council—be sure it is not a committee of agency, education, and business
people—this needs to be comprised of landowners and residents who have
personal stakes in the watershed. (Use the blank spidergram, Figure 2.2,
to construct your own spidergram and then discuss it with others.)
q Select a meeting date, time, and location.
q Develop a timeline for meeting preparation.
q Plan a budget, request donated services and facilities.
q Seek additional funding if necessary.
q Select a facilitator to conduct the community meeting
(see Section 3).
q Compile an invitation list (includes all watershed residents and their
addresses). Agency partners can help prepare the list; the planning
committee can review for additions or deletions.
q Create the agenda for first meeting (see Section 4 for an example).
q Design, print, and mail invitations. Include a concise statement of issues
and a map of the watershed (see sample). Everyone should be notified 5
times (early for them to save the date, 2 mail contacts 3 weeks and 1 week
prior to the meeting, newspaper and posters and personal invitations).
q Publicity: newspaper, posters, radio, letters to editor, columnists
contacted. Write media news releases 3 weeks and 1 week before the
meeting (see example at the end of this section).
q Refreshments
q Identify and reproduce handouts (see Section 4).
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-6
Watershed
Community
Meeting
Figure 2.2. Primary stakeholders and local interests that should be included in our watershed
community meeting
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-7
Publicity Example
Opinion/Editorial Article for The Tribune
Ames, Iowa March 12, 2001
At an ISU conference on March 5-7 entitled Agriculture and the Environment: State and
Federal Water Initiatives, I learned that we are on the verge of a dramatic change in the
focus of soil and water management practices throughout the nation. This change in
focus is critical to bringing about improvement and protection of water quality in our
rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. Under the Clean Water Act, state and federal agencies
working together with citizen’s groups and individuals are beginning to impose numeric
concentration and mass limits on pollutants that enter rural and municipal stormwater
discharges, especially discharges to already polluted waters. The pollutants are
collectively referred to as either non-point source (NPS) or point source (PS) pollutants.
The limits that are being imposed are expressed as Total Maximum Daily Loads
(TMDLs). The implications for farmers and local communities nationwide in terms of
pollution control costs, growth management, and land-use planning are unprecedented.
When the health of our streams, rivers and lakes is threatened, each of us is threatened.
The solution to this problem starts with each of us in our own backyard, on our city
streets and parking lots, in our place of work, in our parks, and on our farms. If we don’t
take the necessary steps to clean up our waters locally, Congress has given the
Environmental Protection Agency the authority to impose solutions. In lieu of this
happening, resident-led management initiatives offer the opportunity for people to
voluntarily get involved in their watershed and to find their own solutions. Federal and
state funding incentives are available in support of these voluntary initiatives. Iowa State
University Extension is pioneering the development of volunteer resident-led
management approaches in several small watersheds in northeast Iowa.
Resident-led watershed groups consist of people bound together by the physical flow of
their common streams, rivers, or lakes--people who live and work in the same
watershed and are willing to work together to develop local policies and practices that
protect their waters. Most importantly, they care about keeping the land whole and the
water clean. We saw the beginning of this process over the last year when Ames and
Story County residents came together on several occasions to voice their concerns over
water quality issues at Hallett’s Quarry and College Creek. The Story County Water
Monitoring Group was organized to help monitor local streams and lakes as part of a
state-wide volunteer-led monitoring effort called IOWATER. Frequent flooding on
Squaw Creek and the Skunk River has destroyed homes and damaged property and the
City of Ames has had to struggle with the process of revising floodway boundaries
within our floodplains. Comprehensive watershed and floodplain management are
absolutely essential to protecting water quality, reducing peak flows during wet periods,
and preventing our streams and wells from going dry during drought.
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-8
What can resident-led groups do? Sociologist Lois Wright Morton, and a team of
associates in ISU Extension to Communities have authored a publication entitled
“Resident-led Watershed Mangement” that includes a long list of action items for groups
made up of conservationists, farmers, environmentalists, business people, educators, local
governments, and natural resource technicians. These groups form watershed councils
that assume an expanded role beyond that of an advisory committee. Council members
educate themselves about land use and water quality issues in their watershed. They
continuously gather and share information and seek local partners in solving the problems
of their watershed. Councils are action-oriented and have personal stakes in how their
watershed resources are managed. When residents and natural resource experts work as a
team they can make sustainable changes in farm management, urban lawn care, municipal
stormwater management and other land use practices that lead to clean water. At the
Agriculture and Environment Conference I heard several success stories from resident-led
watershed management groups from Appanoose, Clayton and Jones counties. It was
inspiring to hear Pauline Anson, farmer and retired school teacher from Jones County tell
how Mineral Creek Watershed residents are making a difference.
Local citizens soon will have the opportunity to get involved with a resident-led group
for the Squaw Creek Watershed, a 231-square-mile area that includes parts of Boone,
Hamilton, Story, and Webster counties. More than a 1000 invitations have been mailed to
landowners, farmers, city and county officials, and others to attend a stakeholders meeting on Thursday, March 22, 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM, in the Scheman Building at Iowa State
University. The purpose of the meeting will be to identify problems and create solutions
to long-term water quality. Anyone who lives, manages land, works or cares about
Squaw Creek Watershed is welcome. The preregistration fee is $10 ($15 on the day of
the meeting) and includes lunch. You can pre-register by downloading a form from the
internet at: http://www.lifeleamer.iastate.edu/conference/yearOl 03con£htm or by contacting Erv Klaas at: [email protected] or 515-294-7990 during regular business hours.
Erwin Klaas, Story County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner,
1405 Grand Ave., Ames, Iowa 50010 * 515-294-7990
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-9
SAMPLE INVITATION TO A COMMUNITY MEETING
[Name of your watershed] connects farmers, residents, and all those with interests in [names of counties
your watershed is in] counties to each other and to the land that is a part of us. In recent years there has
been growing concern about the quality and safety of the water in [name of your watershed]. We can make
a difference!
Join us in talking about issues, concerns, successes, and challenges in preserving the
special beauty and water quality of [name of creek(s)]. Help us plan for the future of
the [name of your watershed].
Insert a map of your watershed here.
http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/drg24/drg24.html
We are forming a community group for the [name of your watershed]. Residents
and landowners in [names of counties] Counties who live, work, and have
interests in the [name of your watershed] are invited to join us for a community
discussion.
The meeting will be held from [times] on [date] at [place]. If you are unable to
attend but interested in joining this effort, please contact [name of contact, phone
number, email].
DAY OF WEEK, DATE – TIME (from) – (to)
Time
Registration
Time
Getting to know our watershed
How has our watershed changed?
Current uses of our watershed
Time
Renewing our watershed;
responding to the challenge
How can watershed residents
contribute to local solutions?
What are possible resident roles
in managing our local watershed?
Your concerns about the watershed
Strategies for local actions
Documented water issues
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
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SAMPLE REGISTRATION FORM (ON-SITE OR EARLY)
[NAME OF YOUR WATERSHED] MEETING – [Date]
Participant Information
First Name
Last Name
County
e-mail
Day Phone
Fax
Evening Phone
Street Address
City
State
Zip Code
What is your relationship to the [Name of Your Watershed] W atershed?
Check as many as apply:
† landowner, but don’t live in the watershed
† landowner who lives in the watershed
† resident, but don’t own land
† manage one or more farm(s) in the watershed
† own/manage a business in the watershed
† local elected/regulatory official with policy/practice oversight that affects the watershed
† natural resources agency personnel with watershed responsibilities
† land developer
† land use planner
† other (please specify)
It’s Easy to Register!
Name of where to send registration and who to call if questions:
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Phone
Fax
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
2-11
SAMPLE SAVE-THE-DATE POSTCARD
local media and posters.
Watch for more details in
SAVE THE DATE!
A community meeting
to discuss water quality issues
A joint project of [your Soil and Water
Conservation District, watershed citizens,
Iowa State University Extension, and . . .
insert sponsoring partners]
Renewing Local Watersheds:
Community Leaders’ Guide to Building Watershed Communities
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