Watershed groups have gained a strong presence in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington through a mixture of state legislation, agency support, and citizen involvement. Each group serves a unique geographic space and is bound by unique financial and logistical circumstances. However, all Pacific Northwest (PNW) watershed groups are similar in their overall purpose to successfully plan for and protect the future of a specific watershed. As part of his M.S. thesis project in Environmental Science, University of Idaho graduate student Brian Chaffin developed a survey instrument to assess the status of watershed groups in the Pacific Northwest. Potential survey respondents were identified using lists of active watershed planning groups. These lists generally identified a main contact or agency lead for each watershed group. This person was contacted via phone or email (depending on preference and availability) and asked of his/her willingness to respond to a mail-based survey concerning the watershed group. Additional survey respondents were identified through a mixed method of references, recommendations, and public records of watershed group participants. The initial survey framework was set up to sample three individuals per PNW watershed group using the following criteria: (1) a government contact or agency lead representing the watershed group (state, federal, or local); (2) an individual serving in a leadership role within the watershed group (president, secretary, treasurer, executive director, coordinator, etc.); and (3) any other member-at-large of the watershed group. The survey instrument consisted of a booklet with fifty-seven questions. Surveys were mailed to three hundred four members of watershed groups in the PNW in the summer of 2009. Two hundred eleven surveys were completed and returned, yielding a 69 percent response rate across the region. Idaho watershed group members responded at a rate of 83 percent, Oregon 58 percent, and Washington 71 percent. Below are some of the survey highlights. When asked to describe the overall level of satisfaction in working with a watershed group respondents chose “very satisfied” or “satisfied” far more than other choices (Table 1). Almost 80 percent of surveyed participants were at least satisfied with working on a watershed group. Satisfaction level was highest in Oregon (88 percent). Table 1. Satisfaction level with working in a watershed group based on the 2009 survey. Satisfaction Level PNW ID OR WA Very satisfied 34% 21% 51% 30% Satisfied 45% 55% 37% 44% Neutral 13% 17% 6% 15% Dissatisfied 4% 4% 2% 6% Very dissatisfied 1% 0% 2% 0%

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	Pacific Northwest respondents indicated that groups have mostly been “very successful” or “somewhat successful” in accomplishing intended missions and objectives (Table 2). Eighty-five percent of respondents reported that watershed groups have been at least successful in accomplishing group goals. Success level was highest in Washington (92 percent). Table 2. Success level of watershed groups based on accomplishing their goals. Success level PNW ID OR WA Very successful or somewhat successful 85% 83% 82% 92% Neither successful or unsuccessful 6% 9% 6% 2% Somewhat unsuccessful or very unsuccessful 6% 6% 10% 2% Respondents were asked to grade the accomplishments of their watershed group using a familiar “A-F” letter grade or “incomplete” to signify that accomplishments are pending or cannot be graded (Table 3). Overall, 72 percent of survey respondents would give their watershed group an A or a B for their accomplishments. Oregon survey respondents gave their watersheds the highest grades. Table 3. Grades rating the accomplishments of watershed groups in the Pacific Northwest based on the 2009 survey. Accomplishment Grades PNW ID OR WA A or B 72% 60% 87% 69% C or D 19% 24% 6% 25% F 1% 0% 2% 0% Incomplete 6% 13% 3% 4% Conclusions based on the watershed group survey include the following: Over 80 percent of PNW watershed group members view their groups as “successful” in accomplishing group missions and objectives. Watershed group members in Oregon are the most satisfied with the work of their groups. Throughout the PNW, state governments are the most supportive of watershed group programming. The role of local Universities and Extension in regional watershed group programming needs to be further evaluated and defined. Watershed groups in the Pacific Northwest are not a dying entity – a review of self-reported attitudes depicts a successful, satisfied volunteer and professional force working toward watershed planning goals and objectives. The results of this watershed survey will be published and be made available to the general public.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on January 15, 2010