The Importance of a Long Range Vision of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council

The field of watershed management is a rapidly evolving area in which the participants are recognizing that sound tools for managing people and institutions are just as important as the tools for managing the technical aspects of a problem. In fact, the call for abstracts for this conference acknowledged: "It is more important than ever to ensure that the best possible management, information and technology options are being implemented." The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council has developed a comprehensive vision statement which describes how the watershed will look in the future because they believe it is a critical step in their ability to manage the watershed. A wide variety of stakeholders all agreed that a clear picture of where they were going was paramount if their efforts were to be successful. This paper describes the history of the Council, its membership, the process they went through to develop their vision, and the steps they've taken towards implementation. It emphasizes the importance of the Council's role as a facilitator of multiple stakeholders within the watershed, rather than the creation of a new organization. It describes the critical role that regular Council meetings play in developing trust among stakeholders, educating stakeholders from a wide political and technical background about technical issues, and building champions within governmental and other organizations about the need for watershed management. It stresses the need for consideration of management tools such as consensus building, teamwork, and conflict resolution, as well as good old-fashioned patience and long-term commitment from individual's as well as organizations.