For UNM Community and Regional Planning, CRP527Presenter/instructor: Rich Schrader

Myths & objectivity in a watershed worldview:

Community-based approaches to watershed planning challenges in

the New West

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Stewardship & Sense of Place

• Stories in culture shape historic use and vision for the future use of land.

• Top-down designs of objective science often ignore community questions about indicators.

• The community-based approach to watershed stewardship and monitoring projects have more staying power if well designed and adapted as community learns.

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

River Source Inc.

Founded in 1996 with grant from McCune and contract w/Dr. William Fleming to help run the NM Watershed Watch program. Rich Schrader is a graduate of the Community & Regional Planning program. Carol Schrader is the company’s only other employee.

Go to: www.riversource.net

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Quality assured volunteer data IS POSSIBLE!

Pennsylvania Watersheds Data System

http://207.140.67.52/default.aspx

• Quality Assurance Program Plans are not uncommon anymore throughout US and increasingly in the west.

• Citizen-science is becoming more than a buzzword. It’s becoming an objective way for people to have converstation and better understand watershed conditions.

• How would this be concept be developed and practiced in multi-cultural New Mexico?

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

So what is a myth and what is objective anymore?

• Community-based approaches to watershed stewardship can appear threatening to the scientific establishment.

• Who is right in choosing what indicators to use for establishing watershed “health”

• What the heck is “health” anyway?

• Oh yeah…..it is both community-based and scientific.

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Stories can accomplish what no other form of communication can – they can get through to our

hearts with a message.

For land conservationists, what matters [is] the relationship between community and the land,

between people and places.

We will need to help create a fundamental change in how our society thinks about and treats land; we will need to nurture the flowering of a new land ethic. Will Rogers in the introduction of The Story Handbook:

Language and storytelling for land conservation (Peter Forbes, 2002, Trust for Public Land publication)

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Purposes for Watershed Plans

Education/Community Inquiry: Scientific understanding & stewardship building efforts through language and culture

Community or Agency Advocacy: To advance values or promote program goals for community or agency.

Regulatory or Legal: To satisfy legal requirements such as ESA, NEPA, CWA.

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Example of Data Use Matrix for Agency and Community interests go to http://rmwn.org/

Watershed Assessment

Study Reason(s) Rocky Mountain Network (2005)

Data Use(s):

IEducation/Community

Inquiry

IICommunity or

Agency Advocacy/Planning

IIIRegulatory/

Legal

A. Condition and Trend Investigation

Assessment A-IGeneral background

information

Assessment A-IIWatershed Management Planning; 305(b) report

N/A

B.ImpactInvestigation

Non Point Source

Assessment B-IEducate community or

students about pollution

Assessment B-IIIdentify impacts for

remediation

Assessment B-IIICWA Violations

Point Source

Assessment B-IVEducate community or

students about pollution

Assessment B-VIdentify impacts for

remediation

Assessment B-VICWA Violations

C. Effectiveness Investigation

Assessment C-IEducate students about effectiveness of BMPs,

restoration projects

Assessment C-IIEvaluation of effectiveness

of BMPs, restoration

N/A

D. Use Support Investigation

Assessment D-ICommunity

or student ed. on impacts

Assessment D-IIWatershed Management Planning; 303(d) report

Assessment D-IIICWA violations

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Plan Purposes Areas of Activity in Landscape Planning (Marsh 1991)

• Environmental Inventory

• Opportunities and constraints – including land suitability analysis

• Hazard Assessment

• Forecasting impacts

• Site selection

• Special environments

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Building Social Network and Shared Language

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Watershed Principles & Complexities

• Everything is connected

• Separation anxiety: How the heck do we tell what is human-caused impact and what is natural?

• Ecosystem =

Bio – Chem - Physical

ConnectionsEPA Rapid Bio Assessment

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Theories in Watershed Problem Solving

Exposure (such as concentration of suspended sediment in a river)

Stress (such as massive erosion)

Response (such a an increase of tolerant insects in the benthic macroinvertibrate community)

After Geoff Dates (River Network) and Karr (??)

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Challenges in Identifying Causes vs. Symptoms

• Soil erosion (cause or symptom)

• Catastrophic fire

• Massive bark beetle infestation and pinyon kill

• Bank failure of a steep slope after a drought

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Multi-metric Indices (Karr 1981) Multi-metric indices as a standard for accurately assessing watershed health. Five activities to make multimetric biological indexes effective.

THIS CAN BE DONE IN COMMUNITY-BASED SETTING

• Classifying environments to define homogeneous sets within or across ecoregions (e.g., streams, lakes, or wetlands; large or small streams; warm-water or cold-water lakes; high- or low-gradient streams).  

• Selecting measurable attributes that provide reliable and relevant signals about the biological effects of human activities.  

• Developing sampling protocols and designs that ensure that those biological attributes are measured accurately and precisely. 

• Devising analytical procedures to extract and understand relevant patterns in those data.  

• Communicating the results to citizens and policymakers so that all concerned communities can contribute to environmental policy.

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

Steps for Creating Successful Watershed Plans

• Understand who is the client and what they need

• Facilitate creation of a profound and meaningful vision (10 year minimum)

• Make it real with milestones in shorter term first, longer-term later in process.

• Develop learning capacity of plan users (shared language & group/institutional commitment)

by River Source, UNM CRP 527

If in doubt, Wing – It with care

• We are experimenting with our environment and our culture

• Don’t forget to consider the precautionary principle

Do cows have culture?