Title: Linking Public Agencies With Community-Based Watershed Organizations: Lessons From California

Authors: Craig W. Thomas

Summary: Policy Studies Journal, 27(3): 544-564; 1999
Recommended Audience: Community-based watershed organization leaders and those who provide assistance to them, government agency policymakers, and technical assistance providers.

Principal Topic: Fundamental tensions and strategies underlying relationships between local watershed organizations and public agencies in California.

Review: The nature of community-based watershed organizations in the West does not demand that they be mandated legislatively. They are dependent upon but not controlled by nor created by state/federal agencies. These organizations tend to focus more on the environmental health of the watershed. Decisions tend to be consensus-based and organizational focus comes from a search for “common ground” within the community. The two continua of responsiveness and structural centralization of public agencies are key to understanding these groups. The case presented looks at these features with regard to the establishment of bioregional councils in California during the 1990’s. Largely overlooked in this major policy shift were the issues of differing organizational structure and culture. The study explores why regional cooperation failed in one region, and explains why some public agencies were better able to work with community watershed organizations at a sub-regional level.

Implications: This paper is valuable for those designing policy and programs. Agency implementers and extension educators may find value in understanding their own organizations as well as others in a better light. The nature of watershed organization in this study does not necessarily reflect the array of organization in the Midwest, but the framework for understanding organizational culture and structure is valuable.

Resource(s): Linking Public Agencies