Scientific-based agencies developed massive regulatory approaches committed to continual technological and industrial innovation and stressed best management practices. Now, we face much more complex, interwoven problems. Nonpoint pollution and watershed planning are different. People who shared a landscape but had never met or worked together were convened to inventory and prioritize watersheds. All affected parties were invited to come together.
People have the right to be involved in issues that affect their lives.
Indeed, this is a central tenant of democratic governance. Consensus was encouraged, certainly not because it saved time, but to ensure that the diversity of voices were heard, to comfort rural landowners that they would not be outvoted by urban majorities and to validate real concerns and force the parties to work together to develop new creative, win-win solutions, that addressed everyone's legitimate needs. Watersheds have taught us a lot in the last decade. We all live downstream. At a time when Americans are pulled apart by the centrifugal force of the economy, globalization, isolation, and individual rights, watersheds restore balance by reminding us that we are all connected to place, to community, to our common future.