University of Maine Cooperative Extension's Watershed Stewards Program

- Success Story -

This program is just one example of Extension programming that has positively impacted watershed management. Please check back periodically for other highlighted programs.

Situation

Effective planning and long-term change in impaired watersheds requires citizen participation in many stages of the process. Programs that educate and empower stakeholders on watershed and water quality issues improve the understanding of local water resources, encourage individual and community involvement in water quality protection and restoration efforts, and help communities make informed decisions that improve water quality and result in effective watershed management.

Actions

In 1996, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE) initiated an educational program for lake landowners called the Watershed Stewards Program . This program is training Maine residents to identify pollution sources and take action at the watershed level to make improvements. In partnership with Maine Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies, the program provides 25 hours of educational training. In turn, volunteers return at least 25 hours of service to their watershed. Program watersheds are selected from the list of priority lakes and rivers .

Impacts

As of December 2004, The UMCE Watershed Stewards Program has trained about 285 watershed stewards. Each of these stewards has worked with dozens of people on Maine water resource issues.

To assess effectiveness and determine if program changes were necessary, a Watershed Stewards Program evaluation was recently conducted. Results of this evaluation indicated that the Stewards have a significantly higher knowledge level (23%) about lake processes and threats compared with lakefront owners who did not participate in the program. Program participants qualitatively demonstrated much more involvement with lake governance, implementation efforts, and related pollution prevention activities. For more information on this program evaluation, please refer to its article in the Journal of Extension (Jemison et al. 2004 ).

Other Master Watershed Stewards Programs
Similar Master Watershed Stewards programs exist at other Land Grant Universities where stewards also draw on their training and resource materials as they volunteer to improve their watersheds. Examples include:
• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s Master Watershed Stewards
• Washington State University Cooperative Extension Watershed Stewards
• Oregon State University Master Watershed Steward s
• Ohio State University Extension Master Watershed Stewards