Fall, 1996 (v8n4)

From the Field

Marin Coastal Watershed Project:

A Cooperative Approach to Adapting Nonpoint Source
Pollution Guidelines to Local Conditions-Part 2

by Ellen Rilla and Stephanie Larson, UCCE

[Editor's Note: This is the second part of a two-part article on the Marin Coastal Watershed Enhancement Project, which was coordinated by Ellen Rilla, UC Cooperative Extension director, Marin/Sonoma counties, and Stephanie Larson, UC Cooperative Extension livestock and range management advisor, Marin/Sonoma counties, and involved the work of many individuals in UC Cooperative Extension, the agricultural community, natural resources agencies, and environmental groups. Funding for the project was provided by the Marin Community Foundation. Part 1, which appeared in Sustainable Agriculture, Vol. 8, No. 3, Summer 1996, page 4, detailed the deteriorating condition of riparian habitat in coastal Marin County, and the fact that agricultural practices are often cited as a primary cause of this habitat degradation. It noted how a significant aspect of the project was the cooperative effort of local government agencies and private support groups working together as a team to assist landowners with nonpoint source pollution, or NPS, issues. A 30-member advisory committee made up of community representatives, producer groups from shellfish growers to dairy operators, regulatory and resource agencies, and environmental organizations provided general guidance and oversight. In this concluding article on the Marin project, the authors describe landowner outreach, local compliance, and next steps.]

Landowner Outreach

Project input from agricultural landowners has been obtained through personal interviews and informal public meetings. Key landowners, who either control large tracts of land or are outgoing and influential, were contacted and personally interviewed to assess their knowledge of nonpoint source pollution regulations and gain a feeling for the types of support that are most needed. Many of these interviews were conducted by a local rancher.
Following the interviews, two informal potluck meetings were held for livestock producers and dairy producers. A local rancher helped conduct the meetings, providing a comfortable environment for other landowners to express their opinions. These meetings provided a forum for members of the two producer groups to air concerns and discuss issues.
Primary concerns discussed at these meetings included: a feeling of over regulation; confusion over regulatory agency roles; lack of understanding of water quality laws; lack of understanding of management problems that contribute to NPS pollution; and concern that agriculture has been unfairly targeted. The greatest needs for assistance include: financial support to make improvements; political support; technical assistance; coordinated information on all aspects of NPS pollution; and the improvements themselves, such as fencing, water source development and erosion repairs.
The meetings were effective in generating a feeling of unity. They also encouraged farmers and ranchers to take a proactive stance in planning for nonpoint source pollution regulations.

Local Compliance

After staff gathered information from landowners they developed several workshops in response to the need for technical information. They planned and implemented a ranch planning short course held in the evenings and on weekends for 50 ranchers. The course included setting short- and long-term goals, a facilities and natural resources inventory, assessment of their current ranch condition and planned management and monitoring practices. Participation was high and the evaluations indicated that the participants found the workshop to be worthwhile. Based on specific feedback, workshop leaders were also able to incorporate more materials into the ranch plan workbook. Since the workshops, several ranchers have completed their plans and others have requested copies of completed plans and suggested future workshops be held. Several evaluation comments stated that participants never expected to find the ranch planning as beneficial to their overall operating goals, since they came with the expectation that they were just attempting to comply with NPS pollution regulations. They indicated that they were very pleased with the results.
Project products also include the development of technical handouts, a creek care guide, and an accompanying report assessing watershed condition and recommending future watershed enhancement projects. The technical fact sheets were adapted from materials gathered from water quality NPS pollution efforts around the state and nation, including the Tillamook project in Oregon and Chesapeake Bay on the east coast. The fact sheets include the names of all cooperating resource agencies with master copies provided to each agency for use with clientele. Again, the idea is to provide information with a common and coordinated voice. In response to landowner requests for information on NPS pollution issues, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT), a private agricultural conservation organization, began publishing an informational newsletter for all rural landowners in Marin County. Staff representing the various resource agencies contributed articles. MALT has agreed to continue this important communication link with landowners.
The creek care guide is being distributed to rural landowners and residents of the project area. The agency team participated in its development and has received copies for use with their constituents. One positive offshoot of this coordinated effort is the expressed interest of the Urban Run-Off Program in the eastern, more urban portion of Marin County to adapt and use some of the project materials. This program is a multi-jurisdictional effort to comply with the urban aspects of NPS pollution.
The final product is the 80-page report and action plan that describes the project area historically in terms of water quality and work done to date, and proposes future action in the watersheds. The advisory committee worked in three half-day sessions over eight months to brainstorm, prioritize and finalize their recommendations for future action. They worked in small teams that included a broad cross-section of interests, from regulatory to environmental. The report is the starting point for future watershed proposals, especially where foundation funding is sought. The Marin Community Foundation will use the priorities set for future watershed projects as their funding guidelines.

Next Steps

At the beginning of the project, key factors for success were determined to hinge on the following:
  • involvement of the agricultural community in project decision making
  • addressing concerns and needs from landowner meetings and interviews
  • regulatory agency recognition of local voluntary efforts
  • continued cooperation of support agencies in the team approach
  • willingness of landowners to recognize problems and be proactive in their compliance


Follow-up interviews 18 months later indicated that agencies, staff and landowners have become more aware of NPS pollution and what needs to be done. They all mentioned that just coming together and building consensus was an important accomplishment of the project. Ranchers mentioned that there is a good balance of environmental, water quality and ag interests and that they truly wanted to improve their operations. Ranchers asked for more workshops and technical assistance while agency and environmental representatives and staff had a wide range of suggestions about how to reach more people. All of those interviewed indicated the need to continue this effort in some fashion after the formal project funding expired.
One shortcoming was the lack of information and assessment regarding economic considerations. Most of our educational transfer efforts in the workshops and field days focused on the technical feasibility. Do the expected benefits occurring from the investment in a management practice exceed the anticipated cost? Is there sufficient cash flow to pay for the investment? As a result of this, staff have applied for research funds to develop a cost-benefit analysis of varying practices for these specific watersheds.
The EPA is encouraging the use of their Watershed Protection Approach (WPA) to meet water quality goals. One clear advantage of this approach is the fact that EPA favors funding projects that are watershed specific. Additionally, regional water quality assessments are based on watershed boundaries, which often coincide with regulatory agency boundaries. This approach could easily be married with the politically determined Resource Conservation District by encouraging watershed representatives to work directly with Resource Conservation Districts.
Both EPA and the State Water Resources Control Board recognize that NPS pollution compliance programs are best accomplished in partnerships at the local level. The Marin County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD) is an obvious agency to look toward to carry out the priorities established in this project, since it has been operating watershed enhancement projects for 14 years and has a proven track record in working with landowners and obtaining funding. Regional EPA staff have recently approached the MCRCD to develop operational working agreements between the district and selected agency partners. It is hoped that these agreements will carry forward the work this project initiated.
A similar effort is just getting underway in the Russian River watershed in the county directly north. Project coordinators have requested use of the materials and some staff time assisting them with organizing a similar collaborative process for their advisory committee and conducting the ranch planning and water quality workshops in that watershed.
More information can be obtained on this project and others through the California Watershed Projects Inventory. The database and G.I.S. is located at a World Wide Web site http://ice.ucdavis.edu and provides a tool for sharing watershed level projects throughout California.

 

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