Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008OR104B

The Rock Creek Sustainability Initiative

Institute: Oregon
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2009-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $26,593 Total Non-Federal Funds: $94,323

Principal Investigators: Elaine Hallmark

Project Summary: Infrastructure is the skeleton upon which our communities are built. Currently, western states have separate systems for land use planning and for making decisions about the location of water, wastewater and transportation infrastructure. These systems relate to one another on paper but often fail to connect in practice and neglect the relationship between urban and rural water utility systems. We are building and rebuilding urban communities and rural lands without integrated blueprints and, thus, are missing opportunities for smarter growth and more sustainable communities. The Rock Creek Sustainability Initiative (RCSI) in Clackamas County, western Oregon serves as a case study for the development of an adaptive governance model pilot for coordinating land use and water management. The exploratory research in Phase I seeks to assess key barriers to coordination, establish baseline water quality and quantity modeling, and facilitate coordination planning discussions. Methods include interviews, participant observation, and comparative case study research. Phase I will conclude with a Confluence Meeting of key investigators and implementers from four watersheds who will vet recommendations for further research and develop a synthesis paper positing a possible replicable pilot project model. This project will lay the groundwork for the formal convening of a RCSI pilot implementation stakeholder group in Phase II which will inform the development of a regional model for coordinating land and water management. Concurrent involvement by local and regional governments in facilitated coordination planning discussions will enhance the likelihood of regionally successful pilot implementation in Phase III. Findings from Phase I will be incorporated into a larger grant proposal to build on this research.