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Watershed Program Study for Department of Conservation

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Watershed Program Study for Department of Conservation Wading through the Watershed Program: An Assessment of the CalFed Statewide Watershed Program (2000-2014) January 28, 2019 Lauren Miller Kaily Bourg Jonathan Kusel Jeff Borchers Produced with support from the Department of Conservation Acknowledgements This assessment of the CalFed Statewide Watershed Program (2000-2014) is made possible by support from the California Department of Conservation (DOC). This research has benefitted greatly from contributions from a former Sierra Institute research assistant, John Owen, as well as the feedback and assistance provided by our advisory committee- Liz Mansfield, Lynn Rodriguez, Todd Sloat, and Martha Davis. A special thanks to Lauren Burton and Valerie Hurst for their mapping work. We particularly appreciate the staff at DOC for taking an active interest in this research, especially David Bunn and Bruce Gwynne, and John Lowrie for his commitment to launching the study. The entire research team extends our deepest appreciation to the many people across the state who took the time and energy to participate in this study and provide feedback on case study reports. Without your knowledge, experience, and willingness to engage, this research would not have been possible. Preface California’s watersheds and their ecosystems provide vital clean water, abundant timber resources, habitat for thousands of species, and scenic beauty for all to enjoy. These natural systems of forests, snowpack, lakes, rivers, meadows, and groundwater store and deliver critical water supplies throughout the state. Between 2000-2014, California funded local organizations to hire watershed coordinators as part of a strategy to facilitate collaborative efforts of multiple state, federal and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, and business to provide better conservation stewardship of forests and fresh waters of the state. As this report identifies, the watershed coordinators were exceedingly effective at generating local support and leveraging additional funds, averaging a sevenfold return on the initial investment. Several of these watershed coordinator efforts even achieved long-term prominence and continue to function under a variety of funding strategies. This report was commissioned by the Department of Conservation to quantify the outcomes of the program and explore the strategies that led to those successes. Further, this report is timely as it will help the Department inform the development of its new Forest Health Watershed Coordinator Program in 2019, and, it presents important data to support the consideration of continuing this program going forward. The landscape-scale management of natural resources is very challenging. Catastrophic wildfire now occurs with greater frequency, and large coordinated field projects must be organized to improve forest health. The state has adopted a Forest Carbon Plan that gives clear guidance on what must be done to improve forest health and forest community well-being and it doubled its commitment to fund the treatment of 500,000 acres forest lands annually. Watershed coordinators will serve a critical role in turning statewide investments into coordinated and effective local actions consistent with the recommendations of the California Forest Carbon Plan. Watershed coordinator activities can connect the needs and contributions of the counties from which water flows to the downstream beneficiaries -- the cities and irrigators that rely on the long-term, resilient functioning of those watersheds. Watershed coordinators continue to be an important aspect of achieving this cooperative conservation in its many forms. Looking forward, solutions for climate resilience, mitigation, and adaptation in California need to occur across the landscape at a scale greater than seen for many generations. To meet these needs, state efforts must be partnered with local knowledge and initiative so that their benefits can be multiplied and shared by communities in the watersheds and statewide. We all benefit from healthy watersheds. Strengthening the Watershed Coordinator Program will improve the stewardship of these vital natural resources and help us meet these critical goals. David Bunn, Director Department of Conservation i Executive Summary This report describes the results of an assessment of California’s $92 million investment in community-based watershed initiatives between 2000-2014. With support from the Department of Conservation (DOC), this assessment evaluated the social and ecological outcomes and identified lessons from the CalFed Bay-Delta Watershed Program funded projects. Consisting of two distinct grant programs, watershed project grants and watershed coordinator grants, the Watershed Program emerged as part of a long-term planning process initiated in 1994 by CalFed, the collaboration of California state and federal agencies for restoring, conserving, and managing the Bay-Delta, one of state’s most valued resources. The Watershed Program, one of eleven elements CalFed instituted to address the state’s water quality crisis, advanced novel community- based approaches to water management by supporting initiatives and project implementation at the local watershed scale, and leveraged what amounted to unprecedented support for upstream projects. After CalFed dissolved in 2005, the State of California assigned the Watershed Program to the Department of Conservation (DOC) where it was merged with the Watershed Coordinator Grant Program (WCGP) and named the Statewide Watershed Program. One of the key challenges for Watershed Program administrators was demonstrating the value of investing in local capacity building, particularly in the upper watersheds, and how this work contributed to improving ecological conditions and water quality in the Bay-Delta. Failure to fully address this challenge combined with a major recession, budget deficits, state bond freeze, and lack of a political champion, contributed to the Statewide Watershed Program’s cease of operations in 2014. Nonetheless, the Watershed Program sparked an “institutional evolution,” increasing public interest and investment in upper watersheds. Adaptive management and inclusivity, core characteristics of the program, have endured and remain relevant today. Between 2000 and 2008, CalFed funded approximately 175 project grants ($64 million) to advance ecosystem restoration, water quality, water reliability, and levee system integrity goals. Project grant activities included capacity building, research, watershed assessment, watershed management planning, large-scale monitoring and assessment, educational programs, and implementation of diverse restoration projects. Between 2000 and 2014, an estimated total of $28 million (150 grants) was dedicated to supporting watershed coordinators. Watershed coordinator grants had the twin missions of deploying watershed coordinators to catalyze watershed restoration among diverse stakeholders and building the local capacity of host organizations to sustain watershed coordinator positions beyond the coordinator grants. The scope of this study was to understand what worked, what did not work, and what lessons could be learned from watershed project and coordinator grants to inform present and future watershed initiatives. A mixed-methods approach was implemented in assessing a total of 30 project and 30 coordinator grants using semi-structured interviews, two surveys, and extensive analyses of grant-related documents. Examination of grant outcomes involved assessment of i project and watershed group origins, goals and objectives, partnerships, performance measures, challenges, and social, environmental, and community outcomes. A primary driver of the research was to advance understanding of project “success.” Owing to the multi-dimensional nature of this value-laden concept, definitions of success were not uniform. From measurable environmental impacts to harder-to-measure, more ambiguous outcomes such as increased collaborative learning and enhanced trust, there is no standardized or universal definition and measures of what constitutes success across diverse watershed studies. Some outcomes of watershed restoration success lie in the future. Despite the ambiguities, various forms of success were identified in both project grants and coordinator grants. There are grants that resulted in numerous on-the-ground measurable outcomes along with enhancement of soft infrastructure such as increased social capital in the watershed. Another clear success of watershed coordinator grants involved leveraging on average seven times the initial grant funding. Watershed coordinators played many roles, including administrator, champion, driver, connector, facilitator, and grant coordinator and fundraiser. Their duties involved sharing information; advancing collaboration among agencies, groups, and individuals; providing technical assistance; developing local capacity for improved watershed management; identifying best management practices; offering assistance and training for monitoring programs; developing educational programs; and raising additional money for watershed work. Answering the question of Who defines success? prompted considerable reflection on how diverse stakeholders, practitioners, CalFed, DOC, taxpayers, local communities, and the research team itself delineate successful outcomes. Stakeholders who are invested in a collaborative process are, knowingly or unknowingly, also invested in a particular set of values-based criteria they use to define success. The goals and objectives
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