Lisa S. Nelson¹ and Louis F. Weschler²

INTRODUCTION

Watershed-based action groups receive increased attention from federal and state agencies as potential partners in watershed protection and restoration. Agencies assist such groups, yet little is known about what kinds of scientific assistance and analysis these groups need. Examination of watershed groups on two adjacent watersheds in Northwest Ohio addresses this issue. The first example is the action groups working in the Maumee River Area of Concern (AOC). The second is the Portage River Basin Council (PRBC). The Maumee action groups are subdivisions of the Maumee Remedial Action Plan (RAP). The RAP--a committee of public agencies, private businesses and citizens--carries out the planned cleanup of the Maumee River (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 1990, 1999; Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, 1991). Each of the RAP action groups focuses on a different functional concern such as open space and wetlands, dumps and landfills, agricultural runoff, etc. The PRBC meets quarterly as a committee of the whole to address basin issues and conduct projects, and has a technical committee and ad-hoc project-based committees (Portage River Basin Council, 1995-1998; Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, 1997; Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 1999). Each group has its distinctive information needs. Topical groups pursue subject-specific assistance, whereas geographically based groups pursue area-wide inventory and characterization information. Over time, groups may shift from topic to area-focused studies and back again.

Both rivers are tributaries to Lake Erie. The Maumee River drainage basin covers 8,316 square miles. The drainage of the lower 22.8 miles of the river, and Maumee Bay itself, are a source of industrial pollution and contaminated sediments. The nearby Portage River basin covers 591 square miles. About 75% of the river meets Ohio Environmental Protection Agency water quality standards, making it one of the highest quality streams in northwest Ohio. Row-crop agriculture dominates both land areas and contributes large volumes of sediment to the rivers and Lake Erie. In the two watersheds, many local, state, sub-state regional, multi-state regional and federal agencies develop technical and scientific information about water conditions.

The experiences of the RAP groups and the PRBC exemplify ways in which government agencies, private firms, and citizen groups can develop and jointly use expert information, and reduce communication costs. Networking, shared membership, technical assistance, and discussion forums reduce participation costs, encourage coproduction of usable knowledge, and foster collaborative, informed decisions about the complex regional issues of watershed planning and management in the region.

ORGANIZATION OF WATERSHED GROUPS

The RAP and the PRBC have historical ties and organizational linkages to the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG). TMACOG is the regional implementation agency for the RAP, and provides staff assistance to the PRBC. Although both the RAP and the PRBC address regional watershed issues, their respective approaches and institutional structures differ. The RAP is vertically and functionally defined. Its component study groups/planning forums each focus on a given water-related problem such as agricultural runoff or dumps and landfills, or on a specific stream within the watershed, such as the Ottawa River or Swan Creek. The RAP developed in the late 1980s in response to a mandate from the International Joint Commission, which sets the framework for the 42 Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

In contrast, the PRBC--a horizontally defined organization--began in 1994 as a group of communities, businesses, and advocacy groups concerned with basin-wide water quality and flooding. It has formalized its structure as a subcommittee of TMACOG, and primarily focuses on improvements in agricultural soil and water stewardship and improved wastewater treatment. The group also addresses stormwater storage and floodplain development controls. The PRBC benefits from the Portage River being designated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) as one of five pilot watersheds, with $100,000 allocated for collecting data and organizing volunteers for stewardship projects. The Portage group probably will divide along topical or sub-watershed lines in the future. The experience of the RAP will inform the transformation of the Portage group.

Linkages, Networks and Shared Membership

Both the RAP and the PRBC memberships include a larger proportion of local, state and federal agency personnel than do volunteer citizens. Whereas the governing committee of the RAP is designed to have equal representation from business, government, and citizen groups, government employees often lead and support the other committees ("action groups"). The PRBC has a different design, yet elected and career government officials play a dominant role. Staff from cities and counties, soil and water conservation districts, park districts, area universities, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio EPA, and some federal agencies are key players. Agency participation depends on individual allocations of discretionary time rather than an assigned duty, contributing to the volunteer atmosphere of the groups.

Technical Assistance and Mentoring

The institutional variations, linkages, networks and shared membership not only help the watershed groups identify, locate, and access important sources of information, but also enhance collaboration and coproduction. The agency people offer mentoring and technical assistance to schools, organizations, and the general public to improve use of scientific information. Thus, expert knowledge is made more usable.

Discussion Forums

The RAP newsletter is an insert of TMACOG'S monthly newsletter, which is distributed to local officials throughout the region. The RAP also has a website; maintained by the OEPA staffperson assigned to coordinate the Maumee RAP. The RAP and the PRBC each have a slideshow and booth available for events such as environmental fairs. The RAP coordinator regularly gives presentations to area groups, teachers, and classes. Both groups support Student Watershed Projects involving area high schools in water quality testing, and they support an annual Student Congress to review the results. Periodically, RAP action groups and the PRBC hold public meetings to share new information or address concerns.

SCIENTIFIC ASSISTANCE AND ANALYSIS NEEDED

Information and assistance requests and related activities are of two types: 1) Public informational meetings and workshops, and 2)Grant proposals. Public meetings and workshops have dual roles. They inform the watershed groups about identified concerns, but also reach out to subgroups of the public whose cooperation is needed for improvements to occur. Grant proposals and the projects they fund are activities promote coproduction of knowledge by citizen-members and agency personnel.

Public Information Meetings and Workshops

Many of the activities organized and the requests made by the watershed groups are for education and workshops, both for themselves, and for the general public. During 1996-1998, both the action groups and the Council have conducted many informational sessions. They each support a separate Student Congress of schools that have participated in stream water quality sampling.

Each of the RAP action groups works to inform itself and the public on the issues that it has chosen to address. For example, the Agricultural Runoff group has organized workshops on improving farm management, and more specifically on "strip-till" demonstrations and planting grass strips between crops and runoff ditches. The Dumps and Landfills group and Ottawa River group have served as watchdogs over the remediation of several landfills on the Ottawa River. Both groups have organized public meetings and walking and bus tours of the sites. The Open Space and Wetlands group organized a floodplain management workshop for area planning officials. The urban runoff group visited the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration project, and has held information meetings to gain support for a regional stormwater utility.

The Portage River Basin Council conducts annual tours of part of the rivers, and has a prepared slideshow presentation available for groups=2E The Council has sponsored short demonstrations and workshops at their annual river clean up, and organized a public meeting to discuss implementing the recommendations of the publication, "Portage River: A Resource Worth Protecting."

Grants and Research Activities

The groups have developed and been awarded several grants. Many of the awards have been for restoration projects as well as for data collection and research, and some projects have demonstrated new techniques that could be used more widely in the watersheds. For example, the Agricultural Runoff group received a grant to purchase strip-till equipment that could be leased to area farmers. The Public Outreach group has received grants to promote pollution prevention, and the Swan Creek group received $100,000 from the Lake Erie Protection Fund for its "Swan Creek Watershed Plan of Action." That fund also awarded the Urban Runoff group $50,000 to develop its study for the stormwater utility. Some of the moneys received are the result of industry settlements. For example, the Ottawa River group received $50,000 from a corporation that accidentally spilled formaldehyde into the river.

In the Portage River Basin, the stated purpose of the research and reporting is to enable local jurisdictions to justify requests for state and federal funding for projects such as sewer hookups and separations. The report "Portage River: A Resource Worth Protecting," was jointly researched and produced by Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Bowling Green State University, the Sugar Creek Protection Society, Poggemeyer Design Group, the Cities of Fostoria and Bowling Green, and the Counties of Ottawa, Sandusky, and Wood. It was partly financed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

COOPERATION AND COLLABORATION

Citizens and scientists cooperate and collaborate primarily through the active role that agency personnel play in the watershed groups. Agency staff try to involve a variety of perspectives in decision-making activities and to participate in state and federal regulatory and funding decisions (Table 1). Expanding involvement in decision making is important to support overall legitimacy, to indicate widespread support on grant applications, and to recruit local leaders who will promote the necessary implementation decisions. Watershed groups, and especially the volunteer citizens among them, value the feedback that their efforts are having an impact not only at the local level, but also among state and federal decision making bodies.

RAP and PRBC leadership recruits participants for the many hands-on, get-wet activities that are important in bringing people together. School, scouting, and other groups are often the targets of this recruiting effort, as are local elected officials. The informal atmosphere of working together assists in breaking down barriers among individuals and encourages the sharing of ideas.

RAP groups have conducted streamside stabilization projects, distributed and planted trees on Earth Day and Arbor Day, cleaned up streams, sampled stream and river quality, and trained leaders to conduct storm drain stenciling projects. The Portage River Basin Council, following this lead, has recruited over 500 volunteers since 1994 to participate in river tours and clean-ups. In 1997 the Council organized a stream corridor survey project, in which small teams characterized both stream and riparian conditions.

TABLE 1. Samples of Decision-Making, 1996-1998.

CONCLUSION

Scientists can best bring their expertise to bear on watershed issues when there is an institutional mechanism for facilitating linkages between watershed groups and the organizations that have the specific assistance and analysis that they seek. The experiences of these two watershed organizations in Northwest Ohio illustrate how collaboration can reduce the polarization of interests that often occurs between citizens and experts, and between local officials and federal agency employees. Valuable linkages and networks occur across agencies that might not occur without the joint purpose of watershed protection. The meetings and events and cooperation on informing the public, seeking research grants, decision-making, and carrying out projects in the field enhance the coproduction of useful policies, plans and strategies, and enable communication to state and federal agencies of the watersheds' needs.

REFERENCES

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1990. Maumee River Remedial Action Plan. Stage One Investigation Report. October. 212 pp.

Portage River Basin Council. 1995-1998. Meeting Anno uncements and Minutes. Files of the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of G overnments. Toledo, Ohio.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments. 1991. Maumee River Basin Area of Concern. Remedial Action Plan. Volume 4: Re commendations for Implementation.

Toledo, Ohio. 49 pp. Toledo Metropolitan Area Counci l of Governments. 1997. Portage River: A Resource Worth Protecting. Toled o, Ohio. 36 pp.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1999. Portage River Basin Council S pecial Coastal Environmental Management

Grant Volunteer Stream Corridor Survey. Final Report. Toledo, Ohio. 88 pp.