Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge

Tri Community Watershed Initiative: Towns of Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Okotoks, Alberta, Canada Promoting Sustainable Behaviour in Watersheds and Communities Maureen Lynch is the Coordinator of the Tri Community Watershed Initiative, Black Diamond, AB, T0L 0H0 Abstract—For the past two years, three rural municipalities in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies have been working together to promote sustainability in their communities. The towns share the belief that water is an integral part of the community; they have formed a Tri Community Watershed Initiative to help manage their shared resource. Activities of the Initiative include changing municipal policies, writing municipal water, and river valley management plans, working with partners, hosting community events and engaging local media in community success stories. The towns are also assisting residents in outdoor water conservation efforts. To date, 100 percent of the households – more than 15,000 residents in approximately 6,000 households – have participated in community-wide water conservation campaigns that protect the local watershed. The Initiative has improved local policy and decision-making through a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach that delivers ecological monitoring science in a manner that improves knowledge in the decision-making process. Involvement of town councilors in this ecological monitoring initiative has allowed local decision makers to gain awareness and knowledge that has led to action on community environmental watershed issues and increased community capacity. Decisions made at local and landscape scales have a direct impact on sustainability. This Initiative has succeeded in ensuring that choices are informed and reflect the col- lective values of the community. By identifying values and defining sustainability, the communities have been empowered to monitor progress and feed into adaptive decision-making processes. The framework and best practices the towns have developed for engaging communities will be discussed as well as lessons learned. Introduction decision-making, the initiative has proven to be effective in changing municipal water policies and influencing water use behaviour in the communities. Since 2002, the Towns of Black Diamond, Turner The Tri Community Watershed Initiative is helping the Valley and Okotoks have been working together to towns to engage the residents of the Sheep River Valley engage residents of the Sheep River Valley in personal in personal action toward sustainability and greater action toward the preservation and protection of their ecological health. An important initiative component is watershed. Through identification of common issues, the implementation of community-based social market- the municipalities have developed a Tri Community ing (CBSM) campaigns, which have proven to be an Watershed Initiative to help promote more sustain- effective method in influencing residential behaviour in able use of local water resources. Initiative elements the communities. Since 1999, the Town of Okotoks has include implementation of water conservation strate- successfully used CBSM as part of its water conservation gies, introduction of water practice policies, community initiative, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in residen- engagement opportunities, working with partners and tial water use during the summer months. The Towns developing public information and education materials. of Black Diamond and Turner Valley recently adopted Establishing normative behaviours that focus on vol- a CBSM approach to address water conservation issues untary adoption of best management practices through and experienced overwhelming support from residents development of cooperative models and more informed for the program. 462 USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. 2006. Water as a Bridge Between stewardship of their water resource and are acting together to reduce impacts. A common vision of engaging Communities resident in the preservation and protection of the Sheep River has begun to emerge among local municipal coun- The Towns of Black Diamond (population 1,900), cils. Local action is linked to community engagement and Turner Valley (population 1,500) and Okotoks (popula- public information and education programs are helping tion 12,000) face a variety of challenges as a result of to build community capacity on watershed issues. influences of local growth, urban sprawl, forestry, oil The Sheep River is a natural free-flowing river, which and gas exploration, tourism and recreation, intensive has no in-stream or off-site water diversion facilities to livestock operations and traditional agricultural prac- store and protect municipal water supplies. Communities tices. Local town councils must respond to increasing rely on natural flows and the wise and responsible use demands for policy to balance social, economic, and of water resources to provide for their needs. The towns environmental issues. Residents share concerns about believe in the importance of directing efforts towards their own awareness and knowledge, which they feel the preservation and protection of their watershed and contribute to the success of their community. The towns collectively seek to reduce their impacts on the water are situated within a 20-km radius of one another and are they use and return to the river. “We are all downstream located near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Identified issues water users” appropriately describes the relationship of common concern are linked to watershed management among these communities. and the municipalities share the belief that water is an Currently the Sheep River is relatively healthy; how- integral part of the community. ever, threats from various urban uses have the potential to In March 2002, the towns supported a proposal to par- contribute to watershed deterioration. Water conservation ticipate in the Canadian Community Monitoring Network and wise water use by all Sheep River watershed users is (CCMN), a one-year pilot initiative of Environment a significant issue. A 30 to 50 percent water saving can Canada and the Canadian Nature Federation to link be achieved, for example, in households by using three monitoring to decision-making. The project aimed to low-flow devices (toilets, showerheads, tap aerators). determine the best approaches for engaging communities Climatic conditions and lack of scientific data to deter- in monitoring activities that contribute to local sustain- mine healthy aquatic environments are ongoing water ability. Under the CCMN project, 12 coordinators in 31 management concerns for the Towns of Black Diamond, widely differing communities across Canada were hired Turner Valley and Okotoks. Members of these communi- to test and refine different approaches to implementing ties have expressed a need to “take action” towards urban Community Based Monitoring (CBM). Each coordinator water use and management issues and access additional used a range of personally tailored, context-specific ap- expertise to provide opportunities to engage residents in proaches accompanied by a suite of tools. The four key stewardship programs. phases of the CCMN model for CBM developed through the project include community mapping, participation assessment, capacity building, and information gathering Raising Awareness and and delivery (EMAN CO and CNF 2004). Knowledge Through The Towns of Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Okotoks, as participating communities in the CCMN Community Action project, learned that progress toward a common vision of sustainability can be measured by environmental Through the Tri Community Watershed Initiative, the monitoring when it is driven by local information needs Towns of Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Okotoks and community values. In addition, they found that local have built community linkages to support local citizen-led monitoring information can be integrated into adaptive watershed efforts. To date, three annual tri-community decision-making structures where verification, investiga- river clean ups, involving more than 350 volunteers and tion of cause, research into mechanisms or development 9 llamas, have gathered 7 tons of garbage—including of options can be initiated in response to early indications everything from tractor tiers to kitchen sinks. Decision- of environmental change. maker involvement includes town councilors, mayors, As three southern east slope communities located staff, and residents. along the Sheep River in the foothills of the Canadian Additional community engagement opportunities help Rocky Mountains, the towns have a history of almost to further build capacity. More than 100 students from lo- 100 years of living and working within their water- cal Foothills Composite and Oilfields High Schools have shed. These communities share concerns about use and conducted water quality monitoring tests on the Sheep USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. 2006. 46 River with RiverWatch, an award-winning not-for-profit programs. Participation of town councilors in grassroots organization that links water monitoring activities to the ecological monitoring initiatives through such activi- Alberta Learning Curriculum. Students have participated ties as River Clean-Up Day has allowed local decision in pre- and post-field work, in-class discussions, and data makers to gain awareness and knowledge that has led to collection to measure physical, chemical, and biological action on community environmental watershed issues river parameters.

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