Fostering Green Communities Through Civic Engagement: Community-Based Environmental Stewardship in the Portland Area

Abstract

Problem: Urban development can fragment natural habitats, alter hydrologic systems, and modify energy flows and nutrient cycles. The literature on mitigating ecological impacts of urban development contains extensive support for engineered infrastructure, but few studies have characterized the factors that foster effective involvement of community members in urban ecological restoration. Purpose: This article aims to explain why one community-initiated environmental stewardship program has been successful, and offers lessons on how to use community resources to establish similar programs elsewhere. We ask: (1) How can citizens become more involved in the stewardship of their local watershed? (2) What is the optimal mix of local technical expertise and community capacity? and (3) What innovations and accommodations must public agencies make to improve community involvement in environmental stewardship? Methods: We draw on data from surveys, interviews, and participant reports from 12 years of Portland's Community Watershed Stewardship Program (CWSP) to characterize the prerequisites to developing an effective community-based environmental management program. Results and conclusions: We conclude that programs encouraging the public to participate in environmental planning and stewardship need flexibility to allow innovation and accommodation in the planning process. We observe that community partners have great success completing projects they themselves initiate, and that are physically located nearby. We also find that developing a partnership with a local university was an important component of this effective environmental stewardship program. Takeaway for practice: Community-based watershed stewardship programs, if designed correctly, have the potential to increase citizen trust in government, improve the biophysical environment, and foster participants' ecological understanding. Involving the community in urban watershed management programs fills gaps between what public institutions can achieve and what the community needs. This coproduction provides opportunities for citizens to develop ownership of the local landscape, which may in turn increase the number of community groups involved, and the overall geographic reach of restoration projects. Research support: None