Linking public perspectives on watershed issues to indicators, and natural regions as management units within a large watershed

Abstract

Abstract Public consultation workshops were held at three locations that corresponded to natural regions (ecological units) within the Red Deer River watershed (hydrologic unit), Alberta, Canada. Participants were asked what their watershed issues were. Issues were linked to watershed indicators used in the completed state of the watershed report (SOW) that would eventually be used in the future watershed management plan (WMP). Issues gathered were sorted, counted, averages calculated and ranked, and comparisons made between locations. Two main categories of issues emerged: environmental and socio-economic. There were nine environmental indicators, three of which were new, and a whole new set of eight socio-economic watershed indicators. Natural regions influenced environmental indicators and to a lesser degree, socio-economic indicators. Dividing the large watershed (4,965,000 ha) using natural regions as management units could serve as “common-places” for their respective local communities and governments, an adaptation of the place-based approach. Ranking of environmental indicators could be used for developing a WMP in phases. This study illustrates the importance of public consultations, the consideration of both ecological and hydrologic management units, and both environmental and socio-economic indicators, in watershed management planning.