Watershed Achievements Report

Watershed Minnesota River Achievements Basin Report 2008
Watershed Achievements Report Statewide 2015
Le Sueur River Watershed
Strengthening Watershed Work Group
Formation
The goal of this project is to infuse civic governance
principles into citizen engagement efforts in the Le Sueur
River Watershed. Civic Governance training expanded
the interest among local government and work group
members and citizens to integrate more civic governance
as a framework. Coaching helped the group to develop
a mission statement rooted in empowering citizens. This
project helped to strengthen the mission and future
vision of this emerging watershed group.
Goals
• This project supports efforts to build local civic capacity
for engaging communities in watershed management
through developing local leaders and the watershed
work group in using civic governance principles and
practices.
Results that count
• Local government personnel and work group members
are becoming knowledgeable in and familiar with
the application of civic organizing and governance
principles, policy, standards and disciplines.
• Increased interest among local government personnel
and work group members in expanding their
understanding and application of civic organizing
and governance principles, policy, standards and
disciplines, potentially through training programs.
• Work group vision, mission and governing structure are
informed by civic organizing and governance principles
and standards.
Lessons learned
In watershed work, there is a pervasive challenge to
develop processes that foster communication with
diverse perspectives and interests. Videos are a powerful
vehicle for multi-perspective storytelling.
Civic governance training is valuable to foster citizen
leadership and is a promising route to sustaining citizen
initiative and action over time.
The Network needs to build citizen leaders and
civic governance capacity if it is going to succeed
independently in the long term. It is currently reliant on
project staff for its sustainability.
We are learning the importance of one-on-one
networking and training for both staff and citizens.
We are learning that this is a key component for civic
engagement.
As we move forward, we plan to focus on the civic
standard or clarifying how each member can contribute
resources and helping us all understand where we can
help implement policies where we have the authority to
act.
The process of creating video and documenting stories
builds important relationships and that has added
significant value to our network building. The process of
creating a video also allows the group to reflect on the
past achievements and reaffirm the group’s mission and
purpose.
Feedback / Suggestions
Civic Engagement Cohorts across the state have been
very helpful in providing training to local staff engaged
in citizen engagement. We used some of the tools
and techniques learned in the cohorts and integrated
that with our civic governance training. These types
of training and coaching are valuable for citizen
engagement work.
There is a larger structural challenge of keeping these
emerging watershed groups funded during their
development process. The group started with MPCA
funds and are now looking to foundations to continue
the work.
There is a need to instill a philosophy and framework that
promotes citizen action and fosters diverse stakeholders
working together. Using techniques that foster the
broader framework of citizenship, open and transparent
processes and trust building is a promising route to
engage both staff and citizens.
If a voluntary approach remains the primary route to
realizing water quality improvements, the real task
ahead is to engage and inspire citizens to take action and
collaborate. This requires a sustained investment in civic
infrastructure.
Financial information
Funding type: Section 319
Grant amount: $15,000
In-kind: $19,561
Matching funds: $0
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency www.pca.state.mn.us 67