roundwater is a critical resource for California's agricultural sector, accounting for almost 40% of agricultural water use, and far more in drought years (DWR 2015). Many groundwater basins, particularly in the Central Valley, have experienced significant declines in groundwater levels over the past several decades, and the recent drought heightened concerns over these declines and associated impacts. In 2014, the California Legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), introducing for the first time a requirement that local agencies manage groundwater sustainably or face state intervention. SGMA grants broad authority for groundwater management to locally formed groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs). Local agencies were given until
This article focuses on the third-party roles in a 2008 to 2010 assessment of the collaborative capacity of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Within USACE, the effort was led by the Institute for Water Resources' Conflict Resolution & Public ParticipationCenter. Thirdparty assistance was provided by a professional environmental facilitator under contract to USACE. Data were obtained through an online assessment tool (n ϭ 230) and nine workshops. A national stakeholder Review Group and a cadre of internal liaisons to field personnel provided input at strategic milestones. The resulting collaborative capacity development recommendations are now being implemented. B etween 2008 and 2010, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps or USACE) engaged in an unusual self-examination. It took a look at its own capacity to collaborate effectively with external stakeholders in carrying out its mission (providing quality, responsive engineering services to the federal government), with an eye toward building up this valuable capability. The Corps recognized that, in this era of increasingly tight
This article describes an approach being used by the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to assess and strengthen agency‐wide capacity to collaborate effectively with external stakeholders, as well as strategic reasons for investing resources in this endeavor in an era of fiscal austerity. The article examines the role of the third‐party neutral in helping agency stakeholders chart the path forward, in the near term and the longer term, and offers reflections on the characteristics of that role that are most important to the efficacy of the over‐all effort in this particular case.
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