Watersheds
Watershed management increasingly is being accomplished through collaborative problem solving. Watershed partnerships have existed for more than 30 years, and have antecedents dating to the 19th century.
July 2002, NPCC hosted a colloquium aimed at identifying best practices from a number of successful watershed initiatives around the United States. Colloquium participants included people involved in watershed collaborations, as well as academics and experts from government and non-profit organizations. The group identified a number of lessons learned from successful watershed initiatives, and developed recommendations for governors and other state officials on ways to enhance the use and effectiveness of watershed partnerships.
The colloquium was organized by NPCC Fellow Langdon Marsh whose long involvement as a state environmental leader includes terms as Director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
Watershed Solutions: Collaborative Problem Solving for States and Communities (2003) is the published report of the watershed colloquium. Written by Marsh, the booklet contains examples from watershed collaboratives throughout the country, and a concise list of recommendations for state leaders who are considering such a process.
Download the report (348KB PDF) or contact NPCC to obtain a hard copy.
Watershed Colloquium Participants
Jim Arthur
Independent Facilitator
Glen Bruening
General Counsel, NYS Department of State
New York City Watershed
Nathan Fay
Coordinator, San Miguel Watershed Coalition
San Miguel Watershed, CO
Karen Firehock
Senior Associate, The Institute for Environmental Negotiation
University of Virginia
Rockfish River Watershed, VA; Community Based Collaborative Research
Conservation
Paige Grant
Executive Director, Santa Fe Watershed Association
Santa Fe Watershed, NM
Rick Guffey
Director, North Georgia Conservation, The Nature Conservancy
Conasauga River Watershed, GA and TN
Roger Hamilton
Governor's Watershed and Energy Advisor, State of Oregon
Klamath Basin Watershed, Tillamook Estuary Partnership
Chair, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watershed Implementation Team
Darrin Harris
Consultant, facilitator, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
North Fork Pheasant Branch Watershed Committee, WI
Ted Hawn
United States Natural Resources Conservation Service
Big Spring Creek Watershed Partnership, MT
Bill Jarocki
Director, Environmental Finance Center, Boise State University
Boise River Effluent Trading, ID
William D. Leach
Post-doctoral researcher, University of California-Davis
Studies of watershed collaborations
Chris Lewicki
Watershed Team Leader, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds USEPA
USEPA Co-sponsor; National Watershed Program
Shaun McGrath
Program Manager, Western Governors Association
Enlibra; Western water issues
Lang Marsh
Fellow, National Policy Consensus Center
Collaborative problem solving, former state environmental agency director
Paul Sabatier
Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University
of California-Davis
Studies of watershed collaborations
Harold Shepherd
Confederate Tribes of Umatilla, Policy Analyst
Lower Umatilla Basin, OR
Craig Shinn
Associate Professor; Associate Director, Executive Leadership Institute,
Portland State University
PSU Co-sponsor; Watershed Studies
Greg Wolf
Director, National Policy Consensus Center
Collaborative problem solving, dispute resolution, former Community Policy
Advisor to Oregon Governor Kitzhaber