Christine Feurt, Ph.D.University of New England, Director Center for Sustainable CommunitiesWells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Coordinator Coastal Training ProgramResident, Mousam River Watershed, Gulf of Maine

New Hampshire Joint Water and Watershed ConferenceConcord, New Hampshire November 20, 2009

The Language of Water – Why Wisdom Sits in Places

Fighting injustice through heroic acts

Quixotic – Striving for visionary ideals

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Director National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA

“

The whole system of science, society and nature is evolving in fundamental ways that cause us to rethink the way science is deployed to help people cope with a changing world. Scientists should be leading the dialogue on scientific priorities, new institutional arrangements, and improved methodologies to disseminate and utilize knowledge more quickly.”

Lubchenco, J. 1998. Entering the century of the environment: A new social contract for science. Science 279: 491-497.p. 496. (emphasis added)

Coastal Training ProgramA New Initiative of the NERRSPart of the Lubchenco Revolution

27 National Estuarine Research Reserves Mission: To practice and promote coastal and estuarine stewardship through

innovative research and education, using a system of protected areas.

Implementing the Wells NERR Coastal Training Program Understanding the Language of Water Transformed the

Traditional “Delivery”

Model of Education & Outreach

Water is Threatened

Coastal Trainers

ProvideScience-based

Knowledge

Municipal Decisions Contribute to Threats to Water

Municipal Actions with

Outcomes forProtecting

Water

Public WorksCode Officer Planning Board

?

Community-based Ecosystem ManagementTheory, Principles and Practices for sustaining ecosystems and the communities dependent upon them (Meffe et al., 2002)

1. Retain, restore and sustain ecosystem integrity and ecological services

2. Make the places we live, work and play noticeably better today and in the future.

3. Based upon a collaboratively developed vision of desired future outcomes that integrates ecological, socioeconomic and institutional perspectives

Applying Social Science Tools

An Ecosystem Management Challenge Understanding and Overcoming Barriers to

Use of Science and Technology in Land Use Decision-making

Stakeholder Analysis

“PRODUCTS “ OF SCIENCE

Water Quality DataWatershed Surveys

Watershed Management PlansBest Management Practices

APPLICATION TO POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

Municipal Land Use and Watershed Management

PerceptualBarriers

DisciplinaryBarriers

InstitutionalBarriers

InstitutionalAnalysis

Cultural Analysis

CICEET Project Explorer: Feurt, Collaborative Learning

Collaborative Learning

Understanding the Language of Water

“Recipients will process any message they receive through their previous knowledge and perception of the issues at hand. Thus, in designing an effective communication, one must first understand what folks who will receive that message already know and think about the topics at hand.

One of the clearest findings in the empirical literature on risk communication is that no one can design effective risk communication messages without some empirical evaluation and refinement of those messages with members of the target audience.”

Best Practice Approaches for Characterizing, Communicating, andIncorporating Scientific Uncertainty in Climate Decision Making

(Morgan, G. et al.2009)

Research Question Linking Multiple Disciplines to CBEM

Strategic Tools Use: Theory & Practice

Stakeholder AnalysisWhat are the cultural models of water, its management and pollution, used by stakeholders in municipal decision-making?

Cultural Anthropology

Discourse Analysis

Ethnographic InterviewsParticipant ObservationCultural Models Theory

Grounded Theory:Constant Comparison Method

Institutional Analysis and ApplicationHow can knowledge of the cultural models used by stakeholders be used to improve community based ecosystem management? (CBEM)

Action Research

Instructional Systems Design

Environmental Communication

Logic Model Program PlanningADDIE Process

Collaborative LearningConflict TheoryAdult Learning TheorySystems Theory(+ Diffusion of Innovations) (+ Community Based Social Marketing)

The ways we think about water influences choices for management and policy

Cultural models are shared perceptions and attitudes about how the world works. They are implicit, taken for granted and operate below the level of consciousness.

(Holland and Quinn, 1987; Strauss & Quinn, 1997)/

•Why is water important?•What are threats to water?•What can be done to protect water?

See CICEET website for “Coastal Manager’s Guide to Cultural Models”

What I learned from water managers in southern Maine

How water is valued

How threats are perceived

The knowledge and action systems for protecting water

How water is valued

7 Ways of Knowing A Knowledge Resource for Collaborative Learning

Governance (GOV)

Science(SCI)

Local(LOC)

Ecological(ECO)

Educational Practices

(EDU)

Technological (TEC)

Land Use(LAN)

Knowledge

Combined Ways of Knowing

Town Planner

Scientist

Ecological Knowledge

Public Works Director

Educational Practices

Knowledge

Science Knowledge

Local Knowledge

Governance Knowledge

Land Use Knowledge

Land Use Knowledge

Technological Knowledge

Local Knowledge

Perceptions of Threats to Water’s Value

Water is Threatened

ChemicalLawn Chemicals, Fertilizer, Petroleum/Car byproducts, Nutrients, N and Ph, Ammonia & Chlorine from sewage treatment plant (STP), Pesticides, Mercury, Atmospheric pollutants, Asphalt MTBE, Arsenic, Road salt, Sand & deicing chemicals

BiologicalHuman sewage, Pet WasteRed Tide, Domestic Livestock Waste, Wildlife Waste, E. Coli

PhysicalSediment (silt & soil), Trash,Amount and force of flowing water, Temperature

Threats

Beach Closures

Property Values

Fish Kills

Loss is Experienced

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System of Water Decision-making

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise Multiple Lenses of Professional Practice

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Planning & Land Use

Management

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

Education & Community Outreach

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

Education & Community Outreach

Science: Water Research & Monitoring

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

Education & Community Outreach

Science: Water Research & Monitoring

Drinking/Source Water Protection

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise The Southern Maine System

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

Education & Community Outreach

Science: Water Research & Monitoring

Drinking/Source Water Protection

Land Conservation

The Kaleidoscope of Expertise Multiple lenses of place based professional practice with a core of shared values =

Collaborative Potential

Citizen & Business

Watershed Stewardship

Regulations, Ordinances & Enforcement

Engineering & Public Works

Planning & Land Use

Management

Education & Community Outreach

Science: Water Research & Monitoring

Drinking/Source Water Protection

Land Conservation

CLEAN WATER FOR:

Our Children’s Future

Economic Development

Public Health & Safety

Farming, Fishing, Recreation

Wildlife & Wildlife Habitat

Property Values

The Language of Water Transforms the Traditional Model of Education & Outreach

Water is Threatened

Coastal Trainers

ProvideScience-based

Knowledge

Municipal Decisions Contribute to Threats to Water

Municipal Actions with

Outcomes forProtecting

Water

Public WorksCode Officer Planning Board

?

Engaging Stakeholders as a Resource Not a Receptacle

ECO

Water is Threatened Water is Valued

SCILA

N

TEC

GOV

EDU

LOC

Water is Protected

Planning& Land Use

Land Conservation

Drinking H2O

Research & Monitoring

Education &Outreach

Regs &Enforcement

Engineering & Public Safety

Citizen Stewardship

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning can be used to create interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder teams to accomplish the objectives of ecosystem-based management.

Working Through Environmental ConflictThe Collaborative Learning Approach

By Steven E. Daniels and Gregg B. Walker (2001)

“A framework and set of techniques intended for multiparty decision situations…

A means of designing and implementing a series of events to promote:

Creative thought, Constructive debate and the Effective implementation of proposals

that the stakeholders generate.”

Theoretical Grounding: Systems Thinking, Conflict Resolution, Adult Learning

Chris Feurt’s 20 page practitioners guidewww.wellsreserve.orgClick on Training

HeadwatersA Collaborative Conservation Plan for Sanford

In partnership with:The Town of Sanford, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission, The Maine State Planning Office, The Ecosystem Based Management Tools Network

Sanford’s Significant HeadwatersLinking national and local watershed protection goals

PHASE I: Collaborative Learning Assessment “Breakfast at the Cockpit Café”

Who will oversee the project?

Who will provide stakeholder input?

How can stakeholders be engaged in the planning process?

What is the status of existing conservation efforts?

PHASE II: Stakeholder Visioning to Characterize Conservation Values

1. Stakeholders generate 50 year vision

2. Identified five conservation values in keeping with Comprehensive Plan

1. Water quality protection

2. Conserving productive land for agriculture

3.

Conserving significant wildlife habitat and biodiversity

4. Protecting human health and safety through conservation of floodplains, water supply buffers and wetlands

5. Conserving Scenic and Recreational Resources

Sanford’s Conservation Values

PHASE III: Use Technology to Characterize and Map Conservation Priorities

1. Create GIS maps of conservation priorities

2. Stakeholder review of maps with key pad polling and value voting

3. Evaluate conservation strategies for Sanford

Watershed Ecosystem Services Mapped

Aquifer recharge areas - storage

Riparian buffers - filtration

Wetlands – storage, filtration, purification

Public Water Supply Source

Floodplain- hazard protection

Keypad polling is an interactive technology that allows stakeholders to vote on a variety of questions anonymously and see the results instantaneously.

Keypad polling can make every voice equal, empowering those who normally might not be heard.

Keypad Polling use for the Sanford Conservation Planning Process

Keypad Polling Uses in Sanford Conservation Planning Process

Collect demographic information

Evaluate the process

Gather feedback on conservation values

Engage group members

Additional use in strategic planning, pre and post testing for community education

PHASE IV: Use the Green Infrastructure Concept as a Framework for the Conservation Plan

Strategically planned networks of natural lands, working landscapes and other natural areas that conserve ecosystem values and provide benefits to human populations.

The Conservation Fund http://www.greeninfrastructure.net/content/definition-green-infrastructure

Adopt Existing Best Practices for Protecting Green Infrastructure

The Eight Tools of Watershed Protection

Beginning with Habitat Toolbox

Saving Maine’s Farmland –

A

Collaborative Action Plan

Communication Challenges for Ecosystem Management….

Fighting unwinnable or futile battlesConfrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceivedCourses of action that are based on misapplied idealistic

justifications

Summary: New Perceptions of an Old Adversary

Collaborative Learning Addresses These Barriers

1. Underutilization of social science in ecosystem management.2. Undervaluing the kaleidoscope of expertise3. Overestimating motivational power of science “products” &

underestimating the power of place.4. Traditional models of “science delivery” are strongly held.5. The science generation system is largely independent of the

science utilization system.6. The organizational infrastructure for using collaborative

problem solving and decision support processes like Collaborative Learning is currently underdeveloped.

Bonus Feature! Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate

Panel on Strategies and Methods for Climate- Related Decision Support

Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change

National Academy of Science, 2009http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12626.html

Recommendation #1Government agencies at all levels and other

organizations, including in the scientific community, should organize their decision support efforts around six principles of effective decision support:

(1) begin with users’ needs(2) give priority to process over products (3) link information producers and users(4) build connections across disciplines and

organizations

See yourself in the kaleidoscope of expertise…

Partners and Participants

Chris Feurt cfeurt@une.edu

Tin Smith tsmith@wellsnerr.org

Zack Steele zsteele@wellsnerr.org

Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve

www.wellsreserve.org207-646-1555

The Cooperative Institute of Coastal and Estuarine Environmental TechnologyCICEETA NOAA/UNH Partnership

UNE, Center for Sustainable CommunitiesSouthern Maine MunicipalitiesSouthern Maine Regional Planning CommissionMaine Sea GrantMaine NEMOMaine Drinking Water ProgramAmericorpsLaudholm TrustCasco Bay and Piscataqua NEPs

Publications available CICEET Project Explorer

Selected ReferencesBasso, Keith. 1996. Wisdom Sits in Places. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Bernard, H. ed. 1998. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. New York: Altamira Press.Daniels, S. and G. Walker. 2001. Working Through Environmental Conflict: The Collaborative Learning Approach. Westport, CT: PraegerFeurt, C. 2007. Protecting Our Children’s Water, Using Cultural Models to Frame and Implement Ecosystem Based Management. Ph.D. Dissertation, Antioch University New England. Keene, New Hampshire.Glaser, B. and A. Strauss. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Greenwood, D and Levin, M. 1998. Introduction to Action Research, Social Research for Social Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Gunderson, L. and C. Holling, eds. 2001. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Systems of Humans and Nature. Washington, D. C.: Island Press.Holland, D. and N. Quinn. 1987. Cultural Models in Language and Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Lubchenco, J. 1998. Entering the century of the environment: A new social contract for science. Science 279: 491-497. Kellogg Foundation. Nd. Logic Model Development Guide. Available from http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub3669.pdfKempton, W., J. Boster and J. Hartley. 1995. Environmental Values in American Culture. Cambridge: MIT Press.

References (continued)Lee, K. 1993. Compass and Gyroscope. Integrating science and politics for the environment. Washington, D. C.: Island Press.Meffe, G. and C. Carrol. 1996 Principles of Conservation Biology, 2nd. Ed. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. Morgan, M. G. 2009. Best Practice Approaches for Characterizing, Communicating, and Incorporating Scientific Uncertainty in Climate Decision Making. Available from:http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap5-2/final-report/sap5-2-final-report- all.pdfNRC. 2005. Decision Making for the Environment. DC: National Academies Press.NRC.2009. Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate. Panel on Strategies and Methods for Climate-Related Decision Support, Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.Paolisso, M. 2002. Blue crabs and controversy on the Chesapeake Bay: A cultural model for understanding watermen’s reasoning about blue crab management. Human Organization 61 (3): 226-239.Quinn, N. ed. 2005. Finding Culture in Talk, A Collection of Methods. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Salafsky, N.,et al., 2001. Adaptive Management: A Tool For Conservation Practitioners. Available at www.fosonline.orgWeiss, R. S. 1994. Learning from Strangers, The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press.