Final Report (pdf, 5.5 mb)

In July 2008, the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA) accepted the Shared Governance Implementation Strategy (2008) developed by Teleologic Strategic Communications Inc. Working from that strategy, NSWA spent the fall and winter of 2008 – 2009 preparing and delivering watershed information to rural municipalities. This initiative culminated in a Rural Municipal Forum in February 2009. The Forum represented the formal launch of sector-based stakeholder engagement within the watershed, consistent with recent policy recommendations of the Alberta Water Council (AWC) and Alberta Environment.

In anticipation of the February 10, 2009 Rural Municipal Forum, NSWA made formal presentations to 12 of the 15 rural municipalities that have a significant land base in the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) watershed. All 19 counties and one municipal district within or overlapping the boundaries of the NSR watershed also received information packages to help prepare them to participate in the forum. Representatives from 16 of the 20 rural municipalities within watershed attended the Forum, plus representatives from a number of urban municipalities, counties outside the watershed, observers (from environmental, community and industrial organizations) and the Government of Alberta.

In order to focus the discussion and encourage effective participation, municipalities were divided into three geographical regions within the NSR watershed. Although issues varied in significance from one region to another, panelists found they had in common many issues concerning the implementation of a shared governance approach to support watershed management planning. Panelists shared concerns about:

• How the Water for Life planning processes will integrate with other emerging planning processes, in particular, the Land Use Framework and proposed Alberta Land Stewardship Act;
• their future roles with respect to planning authority and accountability;
• how their participation will be accommodated in partnerships with other stakeholders; 
• how watershed management plans will be implemented.

In general, participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to share their concerns with each other and with NSWA, as well as the opportunity to begin an exploration of solutions to watershed management issues. They supported the idea of further meetings as a “rural municipal caucus” and agreed to participate in expanded discussions that would include other stakeholder sectors. There was general agreement that this would have to happen in order to advance the Integrated Watershed Management Planning (IWMP) process for the NSR.

Forty-three Forum participants completed an exit feedback form. On a scale of one to five (five indicating that a specific criterion was “excellent”) respondents rated all criteria four or better. Of those 43 respondents, 15 left written comments. 

Because most participants indicated, through casual conversation or feedback response, that the facilitated panel discussion approach was an effective way for them to voice their concerns, trade strategies and explore new solutions to watershed management, this engagement method will be used in future with other watershed stakeholders. These stakeholder groups will be identified, using the AWC sector model.

Technical studies scheduled for completion in 2009 will provide additional scientific data for discussion with all stakeholders. NSWA will move beyond rural municipalities to engage industry, non-governmental organizations and all local governments within the watershed to explore the results and implications of these studies for watershed management planning.