ALEXANDRIA,
VIRGINIA. In November 2015, the Institute for Water
Resources’ (IWR) staff Michelle Haynes and Hal Cardwell supported, organized
and led multiple stakeholder and public meetings as part of POH's Shared Vision
Planning approach to the USACE-State of Hawaii West Maui Watershed Plan. The watershed
study is supported by a state-federal interagency team who coordinates funded
activities relevant to coral reef and watershed health in West Maui. The study is also supported by a local
stakeholder working group, state officials, elders from the communities,
private landowners, and others.
The team from IWR conducted
individual meetings on the plan with the largest landowner in the study area,
Maui Land and Pineapple, as well as with the County of Maui, in order to relay study
progress. One new item of note included
the recent USACE-supported sediment transport survey work in the basin.
A technical working group meeting
updated researchers from USGS, State Department of Aquatic Resources,
University of Hawaii and EPA on recent work in the basin. The public meeting featured talks on recent
study progress as well as an open house featuring visioning sessions and
information booths from seven local watershed initiatives. Finally the working
group provided refinements to metrics for the watershed study, inputs to the
public engagement strategy, and secured near term commitments on activities from
NOAA, USGS, EPA, UH, the State and local partners.
The West
Maui Watershed Planning project is an example of the work conducted under the Collaboration
& Public-Participation Center of EXpertise (CPCX). Recognizing the value and need for
collaboration, partnering, and public participation in water resources decision
making, the Corps created the CPCX located at IWR. Its mission it to help Corps staff
anticipate, prevent, and manage water conflicts, ensuring that the interests of
the public are addressed in Corps decision making. The CPCX achieves this by
developing and expanding the application of collaborative tools to improve
water resources decision making. Key tasks include training, research, and the
application of collaborative process techniques and modeling tools which can
and should be used proactively to prevent and minimize conflicts, rather than
just employed once conflict emerges. To view
the latest issue of Collaboration Corner,
CPCX’s informative newsletter, please visit: http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/Portals/70/docs/cpc/Newslder/CPPCoP_Newsletter_2015_Oct-Nov.pdf
Learn More
For more information, visit IWR www.iwr.usace.army.mil
www.iwr.usace.army.mil/cpc