The data was tabulated and given back to the districts at the Spring 1997 Area Meeting. The Team then scheduled visits to each district, during which the Team reviewed the Powers and Authorities of Resource Conservation Districts. and asked about local resource concerns. They asked the RCD Directors what they, as individuals, thought were the most critical resource concerns of their geographic areas, then asked what they identified as district operational concerns. When done in this manner this takes about 5 to 10 minutes. It shapes the future Team contacts with the districts.
Directors have limited time.
They are volunteers. Volunteers work very hard on objectives that are important to them. A first step in 'reviving' a district or increasing their activity level is to find out what is important to the director-volunteer. By gathering the concerns of the directors very early in the project, the Team has been able to target information, and potential conservation partners for districts. Also, the conservation partners are getting a better understanding of director motivation.