CALIFORNIA WATERSHED MANAGEMENT FORUMS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOR WMC WEBSITE

January 2001

by Sari Sommarstrom, President

Watershed Management Council

During 1999-2000, watershed management leaders, or “shedheads”, from around the state gathered for a series of four, one-day forums. The forums were sponsored by the Watershed Management Council, a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to advancing the art and science of watershed management. State, local, and federal agencies and a host of non-governmental organizations involved with the diverse watershed restoration and management efforts going on throughout California agreed that the time was ripe for a statewide dialogue.

The purpose of the forums was to provide a neutral setting where ideas, opportunities, and needs for watershed management across the state could be discussed openly.  Initially, the focus was on state and local relationships, as that role was considered sufficiently complex.  When EPA joined as a co-sponsor and financial contributor, however, the goals were expanded in the latter forums to include an examination of the federal role.

The California forums also served as the 'California Regional Watershed Roundtable', one of 13 regions represented at the National Watershed Forum in June 2001 in Arlington, Virginia. For more information on the National Watershed Forum, please visit its site.

Details of the events are available below in HTML and MS Word formats:

1.      Overview - webpage / Word file (31 K)

2.      Final Report ­ December 2000 - webpage / Word file (107 K)

·        Executive Summary

·        Why the Forums were Held

·        Who Participated and How

·        What the Outcomes Were

·        Conclusions & Recommendations

·        Participants (by Affiliation)

3.      Report Appendices

1. Opinion Survey Results (Areas of Agreement, Near Agreement, and No Agreement) ­ April 2000 - webpage / Word file (62 K)
2. Agendas and Summaries of Forums of 1999-2000:

   FORUM #1 ­ “Identifying the Potential” ­ September 1, 1999              

   ·         Agenda - webpage / Word file (25 K)

   ·         Summary - webpage / Word file (231 K)

   FORUM #2 ­ “Expectations of Governance” ­ November 15, 1999

   ·         Agenda - webpage / Word file (23 K)

   ·         Summary - webpage / Word file (117 K)         

   FORUM #3 ­ “Shaping a Robust, Collaborative Framework” ­ February 2, 2000

   ·         Agenda - webpage / Word file (24 K)

   ·         Summary - webpage / Word file (105 K)

   FORUM #4 ­ “ Filling in the Framework” ­ May 17, 2000

   ·        Agenda - webpage / Word file (20 K)

   ·        Summary - webpage / Word file (104 K)

3. Evaluation / Feedback Summaries

   ·        Forum #1 - webpage / Word file (84 K)

   ·        Forum #2 - webpage / Word file (60 K)

   ·        Forum #3 - webpage / Word file (28 K)

   ·        Forum #4 - webpage / Word file (44 K)

4. Networking List of Forum Participants - webpage / Word file (85 K)

4.      “12 Steps to Watershed Recovery in California” List - webpage / Word file (26 K)

5.    UPDATE - "12 Steps to Watershed Recovery Revisted May 2001" - webpage / Word file (63K)

6.    UPDATE - FORUM #5 - "Revisiting And Revising Strategy" - May 31, 2001

•  Agenda - webpage / Word file (21K)


•  Summary - webpage / Word file (81K)


•  Networking List of Forum Participants - webpage / Word file (43K)
  

ARCHIVES -

Zips are available of all of the HTML (258 K) and Word (320 K) files.

LINKS -

"Watershed Initiatives: Federal, State & Local Roles"
The California Watershed Management Forums focused on the relationships of local, collaborative watershed partnerships with different levels of government. Several reports from other areas of the country have also explored these relationships and recommended ways to improve them. Links to these reports are provided below:

• Four Corners Watershed Innovators Initiative, "Exploring the Watershed Approach: Critical Dimensions of State-Local Partnerships" (Sept. 1999)
• Madison Watershed Workshop, "Toward Understanding New Watershed Initiatives" (Jan. 2001)
• Western States Water Council, "State Watershed Strategy Guidebook" (1998)
• University of Colorado, Natural Resources Law Center, "The State Role in Western Watershed Initiatives" (1998)
• University of Colorado, Natural Resources Law Center, "Resource Management at the Watershed Level: An Assessment of the Changing Federal Role in the Emerging Era of Community-Based Watershed Management" (Oct. 1997)
  

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