Engaging Stakeholders in Local Water Quality Planning: Pennsylvania Countywide Action Plans
Open Access
- Author:
- Trouba, Erin
- Graduate Program:
- Rural Sociology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- October 16, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Kathryn Jo Brasier, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Clare Hinrichs, Committee Member
Brian Thiede, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Lara Fowler, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Chesapeake Bay Watershed
stakeholder engagement
collaborative governance
Pennsylvania
water quality - Abstract:
- As part of the Pennsylvania (PA) Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to address water quality in the Chesapeake Bay (the Bay) watershed, PA counties within that watershed were tasked with engaging local stakeholders to develop a plan to address local contributions of nutrient and sediment pollution to the Bay. While the state provided some guidance and funding to hire planning coordinators, there was relative freedom for the counties to direct and implement their own strategies to engage local stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement is often seen as critical to developing locally relevant and sustainable plans; past research has identified a series of characteristics of stakeholder engagement in natural resource management that is most likely to produce high-quality plans and lead to desired outcomes such as social learning and behavioral and environmental change (Eaton et al., 2021; Mandarano, 2008). These characteristics include skilled facilitation, diverse participation, institutional interplay, and process equity, among others (Eaton et al., 2021; Medema et al., 2014). This research examines how counties that developed a local water quality countywide action plan (CAP) engaged stakeholders in developing that plan. Through qualitative analysis of the CAP documents and interviews with CAP coordinators covering 32 counties, this research identified how the engagement process influenced the outputs produced and outcomes achieved. Regardless of the engagement type or the process features, going through the engagement process had positive outcomes for all of the counties for their local water quality planning and implementation efforts. Variations in the process shaped the outputs and outcomes in specific and patterned ways. The key process features that had the most influence in shaping the outputs and outcomes were skilled facilitation and the diversity of stakeholders that were engaged. The production of outputs and desired outcomes from these processes was associated with the timely availability of technical and financial resources, but was limited by the capacity at the local level to apply for and manage funds and to collaborate with partners. Lastly, the narrow assignment of nutrient reduction goals and lack of clarity of what counties might expect in terms of funding and enforcement after the 2025 deadline may have served to limit the engagement processes and achievement of desired outcomes. Further research should be conducted on both the social and environmental outcomes that continue to be achieved as a result of implementing the CAPs. The results of this study support the policy recommendation for federal, state, and local governments to sustain or increase salary supports for CAP coordinator roles, to encourage development of facilitation skills at the local level, and to financially support and create engagement opportunities for dialogic exchange between diverse participants.