Assessing and Building Local Watershed Steward - Perrin
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The NC Watershed Stewardship Network aims to empower effective watershed stewardship. It conducted surveys of watershed professionals and volunteers to identify needs. Professionals need training in areas like stakeholder engagement and watershed planning. Volunteers need help with strategic planning, grant writing, and outreach. The Network will address these needs through online tools, partnerships, training workshops, and success stories to connect people and resources across the state. Its goals are to increase local watershed efforts, foster collaboration, and support decisions that protect water resources and communities.
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Assessing and Building Local Watershed Steward - Perrin
- 1. The NC Watershed Stewardship Network Christy Perrin Co-coordinator, NCWatershed Stewardship Network SustainableWaters & Communities Coordinator, WRRI Soil & Water Conservation Society 2015 Annual Conference
- 2. Empower more effective watershed stewardship because water is critical to economic, environmental, and community health. Mission
- 3. NC’s officially impaired waters (on EPA Clean Water Act section 303(d) list)
- 4. How can we support local watershed efforts?
- 5. Documenting the needs in NC 1. Online survey watershed professionals (n=161) 2. 7 regional focus groups watershed volunteers (n=50) 3. Online survey watershed volunteers (n= 79, (137 surveys started)
- 6. We heard from professionals:
- 7. Geographic spread of respondents from survey 1
- 8. Skills of paid staff 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Volunteer coordination Designing educational programs Stream restoration Facilitation or stakeholder engagement Watershed planning Watershed assessment Designing outreach activities Event coordination Implementing educational programs Implementing outreach activities Grant writing Natural resource conservation planning GIS/mapping/surveying Data from Survey 1: Paid Staff
- 9. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Social marketing Fundraising Web development Social media communication Wetland restoration Database development Water quality monitoring Stormwater BMP Design Influencing policy and/or permit decisions Skills of paid staff Data from Survey 1: Paid Staff
- 10. Geographical distribution of skills
- 11. Who’s got skills? Skill Have Need BMP Design Grant Writing Influencing Policy Watershed Planning/assessment Designing Outreach Data from Survey 1: Paid Staff
- 12. We have skills Skill Have Need BMP Design Local government, private Grant Writing Nonprofit, CoGs, university-based Influencing Policy Local government Watershed Planning/assessment Federal, private, state Designing Outreach Nonprofit, state, university Data from Survey 1: Paid Staff
- 13. Provide training or connect people Or both? Skill Have Need BMP Design Local government, private CoGs, nonprofits, some SWCD Grant Writing Nonprofit, CoGs, university-based Local government Influencing Policy Local government Federal, nonprofit, SWCD Watershed Planning/assessment Federal, private, state Local government, SWCD, university- based Designing Outreach Nonprofit, state, university Local government^ Data from Survey 1: Paid Staff
- 14. Preferred methods of receiving information 1 2 3 4 LinkedIn Facebook Phone calls Webinar Online newsletter Manuals/handbooks Conference Listserves Website Face to face meetings In-person training workshops Opinion: 1 = Don't like it at all, 2 = It's ok, 3 = Like it, 4 = Like it a lot ff
- 15. We heard from volunteers
- 16. Volunteer watershed stewardship leadership skills qualities Time Be able to set achievable goals Ethic of responsibility Be willing to organize Ability to focus but willing to change Persistence Hope Pragmatism Passion/motivation Good communicator Having local connections Strong-willed (thick-skinned) Data from FocusGroups:Volunteers
- 17. What training would help you succeed? Learning about available technical resources (46%) Developing / implementing a strategic plan (42%) Writing and/or administering grants (41%) Developing/ implementing watershed plan (38%) Conducting/reporting on water quality monitoring (36%)
- 18. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 With what groups have you worked in last 3 years • Chamber of Commerce • Homebuilders • Under served communities • Large businesses • Civic groups (e.g. Rotary) • Farmers • Faith based
- 19. What motivated you to take action on watershed issues? I felt a connection to the land and waterways (>80%)
- 20. Training preferences 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Reading fact sheets on my own Single day workshop Reading a guidebook on my own Single on-line webinar On-line webinar series Workshop series Multi-day conference #ofrespondents Unlikely Undecided Likely Data from Survey 2: volunteers Most likely: Read fact sheets Attend single day workshop Least likely: Workshop series, multi-day conference
- 21. Importance of statewide networking tools 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70AXISTITLE AXIS TITLE Important Neutral UnimportantData from Survey 2: volunteers
- 22. Some helpful conclusions Many opportunities to partner and cross train Volunteers are likely to get engaged because they feel connected to their water resources Respondents would likely attend one day workshops Statewide networking is welcomed Online interactive networking tools are welcomed Volunteers need help reaching out to some audiences
- 24. Steering Committee • Abermarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership • Centralina COG • City of Raleigh • ConservationTrust for North Carolina • Elkin Presbyterian Church • Haywood Waterways Association • NC Cooperative Extension • NC Ecosystem Enhancement Program • NCDA&CS Division of Soil &Water Conservation Michele Drostin UNC Institute for the Environment michele.drostin@unc.edu 919-966-9802 Christy Perrin Water Resources Research Institute christy_perrin@ncsu.edu 919- 513-1152 • NC Division ofWater Resources • NC Regional Councils • NC Sea Grant • NC Wildlife Resources Commission • PiedmontTriad Regional Council • River Guardian Foundation • Town ofWake Forest • Water Resources Research Institute • Triangle J Council of Governments • PiedmontTriad Regional Council • UNC Institute for the Environment • Upper Coastal Plain COG
- 25. More people leading and working on watershed projects. People begin &sustain local efforts in all areas across NC, including areas that lack resources. Local efforts sustained by diverse & balanced sources Stewards collaborate broadly for greater success People make decisions that protect water resources, improve community health & economic development. Our Goals
- 26. Provide online tools - connect people, share resources Foster partnerships: public, private, nonprofit Maximize skills through training and networking How do we work? Help leverage limited resources Communicate successes
- 28. Online webtool: summer 2015 for beta
- 29. Watershed planning workshops “How to” with focus on collaborative, science-based process 4 regional workshops
- 30. Success studies: Sparking connections between people and water resources
- 32. Michele Drostin UNC Institute for the Environment michele.drostin@unc.edu 919-966-9802 Christy Perrin Water Resources Research Institute christy_perrin@ncsu.edu 919- 513-1152 www.ncwatershednetwork.org www.facebook.com/NCwatershedstewardshipnetwork
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Today I’m going to introduce you to the new NC Waterhsed Stewardship Network. I’ll let you know where we came from, who we are, what we’re aspiring to do in NC
- Let’s take a look at NC’s waters. The red indicates water bodies officially listed as impaired- in addition to the red, there are plenty of waters that have never been officially monitored by the State, that may well be shown as red if they were. The list is not shrinking. We all know that NC’s population is growing rapidly. How much of that growth is prompted by our ideal situation of plentiful water resources, natural beauty, and outdoor recreational opportunities? As our population continues to grow, the accompanying land development and water use will add additional stress to our water resources.
- A few years ago a small group of us got together in coffeshops to discuss how can we support and increase the numbers of people working locally across NC to protect and restore h2o resources? (included reps from WRRI, UNC-IE, NC Cooperative Extension, NCDENR, TJCOG)
- We cobbled together a variety of small pockets of funding and a lot of shared staff time to conduct a statewide needs assessment on the capacity and resource needs of watershed professionals and volunteers. We posed 3 research questions: 1. What skills, knowledge, resources (technical, social, financial) do local watershed stewards need to successfully take leadership roles in protecting/restoring watersheds? 2. What actions will they take to build their capacity to protect/restore watersheds? 3. Why are you taking action? What moved you from interest to action?
- Respondents told us which skills they had. You can see the ones that most respondents had here.
- The fewest number of respondents had social media, web development, fundraising, and social marketing (for developing outreach programming) skills.
- You can see that many of these skills are grouped in metro areas like Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Asheville. Though an impressive amount of skills are located here in the mountains! Lucky you! Fewer skills are found in the outer banks, middle piedmont/foothills, and coastal plains.
- When grouped by program type and identifying their top 5 skill have and needed, opportunities for partnering and cross-training came up
- When grouped by program type and identifying their top 5 skill have and needed, opportunities for partnering and cross-training came up
- We initially thought we’d identify types of training that may be needed, and professionals who could provide that training. It became apparent through our analysis that there could be opportunities to cross train, or connect people who may be able to provide services to groups who do not have those skills in-house.
- We asked about preferred methods for receiving information, to help inform us of potential offerings.
- We asked focus group participants which skills are needed by effective volunteers. In return they provided us a list of qualities of effective volunteers. Perhaps we need to think not just about how to train volunteers in skills, but how do we recruit new volunteers who possess these qualities?
- And found there may be new opportunities to reach under-served communities, civic groups, HBAs, chambers of commerce, large businesses. Here’s something I find interesting, during the economic downturn, what do you think happened with company sustainability efforts? The number of new sustainability efforts consistently increased- companies continued to incorporate sustainability into their businesses, and to include corporate social responsibility (CSR) into their missions and operations. CSR means engaging in the communities in which they do business (i.e. funding, service projects). As watershed organizations struggle with reduced funding from federal and state government, are there perhaps untapped opportunities to partner with for-profit entities? As the EPA espouses, long term sustainable watershed management requires the engagement of diverse stakeholders. If our survey results are indicative of what’s happening across NC, then volunteer groups need some help reaching these diverse audiences. We’ll ask you today to share your experiences in this area.
- We heard from volunteers: ~80% of respondents chose this answer. Only ~2% said they got involved because they felt guilty.
- Notice that only 3 respondents said they got involved because of guilt. You will have the opportunity during the small group discussions to explore how personal connections to water resources are created and maintained. We think this is very important for recruiting new blood into our watershed conservation and restoration efforts.
- We asked about training preferences of the volunteers. The majority of volunteer respondents were likely to read fact sheets and attend a single day workshop. Digging into the workshop format, respondents were asked about a variety of factors that may influence their ability or desire to participate in skills training workshops. The most significant factor for respondents was driving distance. The majority of respondents (65%) would attend a workshop only if it were held within an hour drive from their home.
- When asked the importance of tools if we developed a statewide network, the majority of respondents felt an interactive website, email listserve, and online newsletter were important. Twitter was the least important. So we promptly set up a listserve, are working on the website and newsletters, and of course, set up a Twitter account… you can reach us @NCWSN. Seriously though, we recognize that our survey respondents were self-selected from a pool of current watershed volunteers. We seek to fire up and engage people who have never worked on watershed efforts before, and that includes people who love Twitter!
- At least helpful for us here in NC, likely helpful for all of you in your work across the country as well! Our 3-part needs assessment was a rich source of information, these are just some of the conclusions.
- We took these results to a group of ~50 watershed stewards from across NC at an all-day workshop in 2013. The workshop resulted in the NCWSN. Here is a graphic of what we are aiming for (drawn by Mike Schlegel of TJCOG during a strategic planning session)
- From recently completed strategic plan
- I’ll share a few samples of products that are in the works for release in 2015. The webtool will allow user groups to enter their information into a searchable database with a mapping interface. That mapping interface will also connect to NC Division of Water Resources watershed data. The webtool will provide a way to advertise efforts, events. We also envision a discussion forum for asking questions of the network, and linking resources with needs, like a watershed “craigslist” of sorts.
- Somehow I don’t think I need to spend too much time with this group explaining the importance of watershed planning.
- We are developing “success studies” to share the good work local watershed stewards are doing, and to share the lessons learned, with the goal of building on positive successes across NC. We’ve started documenting some successes on engaging people from participants at our first interactive NCWSN session at the Water Education Summit in Asheville, Sept. 2014.
- If we have time, I’m interested in hearing any feedback on what you think may help this network to successfully connect and build capacity of watershed stewards.