Watershed Groups and Government: Collaborators, Antagonists, or Both?

A watershed group is a local or regional voluntary association whose mission is to improve, maintain, and/or restore the ecological health of a watershed (the area of land that drains into a body of water). These groups occupy an intermediate political space between government and citizen, as they typically are comprised of government officials as well as local citizens working together to achieve watershed protection and restoration. Their activities have been described in many instances as collaborative with government, akin to citizen advisory councils and collaborative environmental management initiatives. However, they also advocate for cleaner water, similarly to traditional interest groups. While watershed group activities have been documented in many cases, past research has not focused much on their political behavior. This study identifies the range of political strategies employed by watershed groups in Ohio to determine if these groups employ mostly "collaborative" strategies, mostly "pressure" strategies, or a combination. In addition, the study explores the effects of key organizational attributes (membership profile, amount of financial resources, source(s) of financial resources, human resources, and group age) on a watershed group's choice of political strategies. Semi-structured interviews with watershed group key informants are used to collect data on group organizational attributes and political strategies. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis reveal patterns of political behavior and factors affecting such behavior. The main implications are that the capacities of watershed groups to engage in different political behaviors may differ depending on internal characteristics of the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]