Date and Time
Watershed planning can be hard. It is a process that requires an understanding of the physical landscape, processes, and the people. Sometimes in grappling with the inherent complexities of the physical landscape we relegate the “people” portion of the plan into only the implementation phase of the plan. Is there a place for people to come to the preverbal planning table not as stakeholders only, but as content experts, collaborators, and family? It is perhaps a thorny proposition and opens up a more unstable process, but it has benefits that are transformative and long lasting for the planning process, the landscape, and the people.
This presentation will review how one new watershed coordinator approached a watershed plan as a process, rather than a document. The South Fork watershed sits at the headwaters of Utah’s Weber River and contains one of the few remaining strongholds for Utah’s native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout. The planning process started with the people, and the project will review how this effort was catalytic in changing the stream, the land, and the people.
Presenter:
Jake Powell, Extension Specialist – Utah State University Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning.
Jake’s professional career has focused on uniting communities to their surrounding landscapes through collaborative planning and design efforts. He has worked throughout the intermountain west to envision and implement watershed planning and restoration projects, natural resource conservation projects, recreation infrastructure, and community economic growth opportunities.