This is a report from the Fall Symposium on Water, the first of several “Confluences” where citizens, like different streams, come together to take responsibility for the future health of water, fish, farms, and people.

This information may be forwarded to your friends, neighbors and co-workers. If we engage the hearts and minds of a critical mass of citizens in the Walla Walla Basin we can create the future we want.

Mark your calendars for “TAKING ACTION” at the Winter Confluence, January 15, 16, 17. The guiding question will be:  “What actions are we ready to take to initiate a lasting, equitable plan for water, fish, farms, and people in the Walla Walla Basin?”

Over three days time, 65 people from throughout the basin, representing farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, tribes, forest service, fish biologists, students, environmentalists, engineers, city, county, state and federal agencies, came together to listen, learn and take action. See the attachments for contact information of participants.

People in the Walla Walla Basin are beginning to articulate a common goal. This goal has two faces: (a) avoid a water war that pits citizens against one another draining resources without results, and (b) get everyone at the table and let the citizens lead the management effort for the maximum health of our local economy/ecology.

The convening question for the Fall Confluence was… “What do we need to do about Walla Walla Basin water to make things work for all of us?”

Many people have been planning, designing, and implementing actions to make our rivers and streams more “fish friendly.” It was time for us to gather together to begin to forge a “world class” response to water use issues and opportunities in the Walla Walla Basin. The goals for this first in a series of gatherings included:

1. Make everyone aware of all the current activities and collaborative successes.

2. Nurture increased familiarity with each other to foster mutual respect and encourage collaboration.

3. Give all interested individuals a chance to speak and be heard.

4. Realize there is considerable work still before us.

5. Realize that with shared understanding we have the will and creativity to sustain healthy ecological and economic systems in the Walla Walla Basin.

KEY LEARNINGS

1. We learned that the situation is complex.

2. We learned that when we talk about “the watershed” we are talking about the entire basin.

3. We learned that there are numerous planning efforts in the basin. We need to become familiar with them and look for ways to weave them together. NOTE: For a great resource look at the Subbasin Summary Document at the website hosted by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority. There is a lot of information here and a whole library of great maps of our basin. The link is provided here for you. When you click on the site you will need to go to the very bottom of the page to find the Walla Walla report. Once you have opened up the report, scroll to page 117 or so to scan brief descriptions of all the overlapping planning efforts and agency responsibilities.

http://www.cbfwa.org/files/province/plateau/subsum.htm

4. We learned that the whole thing goes nowhere without the full engagement and ownership of citizen stakeholders; landowners, consumers, all of us.

5. We learned that it’s possible for tension to turn into creativity.

6. We learned that a diversity of viewpoints is a community asset and leads us to behave in news ways on behalf of the common good.

 

1. The Corps of Engineers is open to the entire community to address holistic community needs towards formulating a comprehensive plan for major congressional funding.

2. For every action we create a reaction. We are learning to see issues, ideas and opportunities in light of the entire system.

3. Open sharing of information is vital to our success. An informed and engaged citizenry can move mountains (and water) with surprising swiftness and with lasting effect.

4. Citizens call for increased coordination among agencies with an eye on the bigger collaborative picture.

5. We need increased local commitment and persistent collaboration in problem identification and solution development towards equity for farms, fish and people.

REPORTS FROM SMALL GROUP SESSIONS

For reports from the small group sessions as convened and documented by the stakeholders themselves, open a selected attachment, or go to the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Council web site at http://www.wwbwc.org/.

We used the following criteria for determining what would be reported. CRITERIA: (1) legibility, (2) clearly labeled with the topic, convener and participants, and (3) key points and action statements written such that they could be understood by someone not in attendance.

1. Forward this message with your own personalized introduction to all the people in your circle who you think need to engage with these issues and this process. Keep the information flow open and positive, The Walla Walla Way!

2. Print out this message and mail it to friends.

3. Rewrite this message as a news item in your local organizational newsletter (city news, agency news, professional association news, church news, club or service organization news…)

4. Post this message on your web site.

5. MARK YOU CALENDARS for the next two Watershed Community Learning Confluences where we will begin the work of outlining a coordinated plan for water in our future.

6. Who can find us a space for convening a circle of 70-100 people? It should be in Oregon this time.

7. Who can take on a contract to provide food for the next confluence? Can

we create a feast from our own local growers? When you think watershed, can we learn to think “foodshed.”

Following are the minimal patterns we will practice in order to hold the space open for emergent creativity and leadership.

1. SEASONAL RHYTHM: We agree to meet in rhythm with the seasons so as to maintain personal contact, develop trust, practice the skills of collaboration, and re-align our thoughts and actions with the cycles of nature, on the farm, in the mountains, and in the rivers and streams.

2. OPEN AND PERMEABLE: We agree to hold the community process open to whoever shows up and takes responsibility. The process is permeable because we recognize that people in the community have differing obligations according to the season.

3. DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH: We agree that the strength of community relies on the range and depth of life experiences and unique perspectives of each of us as individuals. In the natural world, diversity of species within a given habitat is an indicator of vibrancy. A monoculture, be it flora, fauna, farm or human cannot long sustain its productivity, nor can it maintain its flexibility in times of change.

4. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY: We agree that if we really care about making something happen we need to take personal responsibility for it. There may be room for creative tension among us, but we hold no tolerance for blame, judgment or complaint.