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2006
AWAG Watershed Conference:
"Clean Water - Stronger Communities"
November 2-4, 2006
U of A Continuing Education Center
Radisson Hotel
Fayetteville, Arkansas
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2006
AWAG Conference Summary
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Keynote speaker, Theresa Trainor, USEPA,
(right) and Karen
Hargrove, Middle Tennessee State "Water Works" Coordinator,
take some time out for a discussion.
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The
key to successful
watershed management is local stakeholder participation. The past
two AWAG Watershed Conferences were instrumental in training local
leaders to apply the watershed approach in their communities. The
AWAG's 2006 Watershed Conference: Building Livable Communities through
Watershed Protection continued the AWAG mission of "assisting
interested citizens and organizations by supporting local voluntary
approaches to watershed management and conservation" by planning
a watershed conference to equip communities with leaders that have
the skills necessary to lead the community in making informed decisions
about their water resources.
Fayetteville,
Arkansas provided a colorful backdrop for the 2006 AWAG Conference
held at the University of Arkansas' Continuing Education Center
on November 2nd - 4th. The leaves were at peak color and the air
was brisk as 195 people assembled representing eight states and
the District of Columbia. The quality of speakers presenting at
this year's conference provided an exceptional opportunity to learn
from nationally-known speakers as well as local watershed practitioners.
The conference offered training that will develop stronger, sustainable
watershed organizations with members who understand environmental
policy, community dynamics, and local environmental issues.
Pre-conference
training addressed the needs and interests of 3 audiences: 1) citizens
involved in a local environmental grassroots organization; 2) federal,
state, and local agencies, county and local government, non-governmental
organizations, natural resource students and instructors; and 3)
teachers, conservation districts, 4-H leaders and others that teach
environmental awareness and the importance of protecting our natural
resources.
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"
We need to engage the residents of Arkansas, and citizens of the
country, in participatory and interactive ways that tap into their
perceptions and understanding of pollution issues. We need to engage
them in the process of identifying actions that they can take to
solve environmental problems. Participatory processes mean having
conversations, becoming friends, and solving problems. It means
telling a new story, together."
Theresa
Trainor, Keynote speaker
"Building Livable Communities
Through Watershed Protection"
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half-day workshops, Engaging Communities Through Social Mapping and
Financing Sustainable Watersheds, were conducted for individuals involved
in local voluntary watershed planning and management. Theresa Trainor,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C. focused on the
human dimensions of environmental issues. Theresa conducted a workshop
titled Engaging Communities Through Social Mapping to introduce social
mapping tools as a way to fully engage people in understanding non-point
source pollution issues and implementing actions that will help solve
local problems. Social mapping is a way to collect, organize, and
analyze social data in ways that illustrate such things as perceptions
of causes and effects; relationships between institutions, organizations,
and individuals; and pathways for accomplishing desired actions. The
session was a dynamic and interactive workshop where participants
had a chance to explore aspects of their own environmental values,
communication styles, and "sense of place." This workshop
highlighted the powerful and reciprocal nature of partnerships as
a means to accomplishing a watershed group's goals. The workshop included
an overview of how to conduct a community cultural assessment using
the EPA's Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding
a Sense of Place. Theresa is primary author of the EPA guide and all
workshop participants received a copy.
Bill Jarocki,
Director of the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) located at Boise
State University, conducted the 2nd half-day workshop on Financing
Sustainable Watersheds. This workshop was developed to build the
capacity of watershed stakeholders to leverage funding for advancing
water resource protection. Securing sufficient resources is vital
to the ability of watershed groups to comprehensively address ecosystem
health across the nation. The workshop covered principles of watershed
finance and guided participants through the process of developing
a funding strategy including planning, budgeting, prioritization
and identification of resources. Bill introduced Plan2Fund, a watershed-planning
tool developed by the Environmental Finance Center, to conference
participants. Plan2Fund walks users through estimating the costs
of their watershed plan's goals and objective, assessing any local
match, determining funding needs to meet the goals of the plan and
tracking resources for implementation. Bill also demonstrated the
use of the Center's Environmental Funding Directory. The Arkansas
Department of Environmental Quality contracted with EFC to add funding
available to Arkansas organizations to the EFC database. Direct
links to these financing tools are available by clicking here.
An additional article about these tools can be seen by clicking
this link.
Field Experiences
from Northwest Arkansas, provided training and information to 51
federal, state, and local agency and non-governmental organizations;
local and county staff and officials, natural resource students
and instructors, and urban and regional planners. Conference participants
visited sites with the project coordinators for several projects
located in the Upper White River Basin and the Illinois River Basin.
The field trip included Blossom Way, an urban greenway demonstration
project; a presentation on Fayetteville's City Plan 2025; a stream
restoration site; and a reforestation site. These sites were chosen
to demonstrate methods and technologies for protecting the waters
of the Illinois and Upper White River Basins.
This year, teachers were given the opportunity to obtain 8 hours
of in-service training credits by attending an Educator's workshop
containing 3 popular programs: Project Learning Tree, sponsored
by the Arkansas Forestry Association; Project WET (Water Education
for Teachers), sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Environmental
Quality; and Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design), sponsored
by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. These programs are available
to teachers, conservation districts, 4-H leaders and others that
work with students teaching environmental awareness and the importance
of protecting our natural resources. These three award winning international
environmental education programs are correlated to the Department
of Education curriculum frameworks and qualify as in-service teaching
credit. Interactive classroom activities and demonstrations for
K-12 (and K-8 for PLT) were demonstrated and resource materials
were provided to participants free of charge.
The two-day
conference began with an inspiring keynote address, "Building
Livable Communities through Watershed Protection," from Theresa
Trainor. Theresa stressed the need to engage citizens in the process
of identifying actions that they can take to solve environmental
problems. The Clean Water Act Workshop was conducted by River Network's
Director of the Clean Water Act Program, Gayle Killam and ADEQ Water
Division Chief, Martin Maner. Attendees learned that without community
attention to local waters, full protection of the uses and values
is not achieved. All conference attendees received a copy of River
Network's Clean Water Act: Owner's Manual authored by Gayle
Killam. The Community Involvement Workshop included Middle Tennessee
State's "Water Works!" program. Karen Hargrove, program
coordinator, explained the importance of including social marketing
in engaging citizens to protect water resources. Katie Teague, U
of A Cooperative Extension, and LuAnne Diffin, President of the
Illinois River Watershed Partnership, described local initiatives
to protect water quality in Northwest Arkansas.
Watersheds 101
included basic watershed information for teachers and citizens without
prior knowledge of watersheds to prepare attendees for more advanced
sessions offered. Watershed Teaching Tools and Resources provided
environmental educators with the opportunity to learn how to share
watershed management and protection information in the classroom
and out in the field. This session focused on a variety of teaching
tools, resources, and methods for educating students and the public
about watershed issues. Rob Beadel introduced some of the teaching
tools and resources available for classroom use and Dr. Janice Greene,
Missouri State University, discussed the incorporation of teaching
tools, resources and curriculum into the classroom. Some of the
teaching resources that were on display included ADEQ's Stream table,
the EnviroScape, a groundwater model, and various books, DVDs, Videos,
CD-ROMs, puzzles, and games. Teachers were able to receive up to
18 hours of in-service training credits from the Arkansas Department
of Education for attending the AWAG Educator's Workshop and other
approved conference workshops and sessions.
The White River
Technical Session provided watershed research updates for projects
being implemented in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri and
beyond. Both Missouri and Arkansas speakers discussed concerns about
the amount of sediment entering streams in the Upper White River
Basin. Dr. Bob Pavlowsky from Missouri State University discussed
nonpoint source management strategies while Robert Morgan, Beaver
Water District, described low impact development (LID) techniques
for a model green community in Benton County, Arkansas that was
developed by the UA Ecological Engineering Group and the Community
Design Center. The Poster Reception that followed highlighted many
technical and community projects from Arkansas and Missouri.
The 2006 AWAG
Conference wrapped up with a Watershed Symposium-Lessons from the
Upper White River Basin. Dr. Jeffery Collins, director of the Center
for Business and Economic Research in the Sam M. Walton College
of Business at the U of A. and Dr. Verel Benson , Food and Agricultural
Policy Institute, University of Missouri at Columbia, discussed
water quality issues and their impact on the environment and the
economy in the Upper White River Basin. Holly Neil and Fran Free,
guest speakers from the James River Basin in Missouri and the West
Fork of the White River Watershed gave presentations on local projects
implemented through local watershed organizations that engaged the
community and promoted the watershed approach.
If you didn't
attend this year's conference, don't miss out again! Keep watching
the AWAG website for a date and location of the next AWAG training
opportunity!
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Presentations
are in Adobe PDF format. Adobe
Acrobat Reader is required to view PDF documents. You can download
it for FREE! Just Click on the link above or on the icon below.
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Friday,
November 3, 2006
Keynote
Address
Clean Water
Act Session
Watersheds
101 Session
Community
Involvement Session
White River
Technical Session
Watershed
Teaching Tools
Saturday,
November 4, 2006
Keynote
Address
- Protecting
and Restoring the Integrity of Arkansas' Waters - Gayle Killam,
River Network
Sustainable
Funding Session
Watershed
Symposium
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