EHWA Make Mission Clear, Preserve and Protect

Wednesday December 10, 2008
EHWA make mission clear, preserve and protect
Suzanne Stewart
-Staff Writer_

Inspired by the “State of the Watershed” presentation from Downtream Strategies at the Elk Headwaters Watershed Association meeting Tuesday evening, participants set to work on the organization’s mission statement.

The group reached a suitable explanation of their mission: “To provide a voice to the community as we study, understand, develop strategies and offer solutions to preserve and improve the Elk Headwaters and promote sustainable economic and environmental health.”

As the group brainstormed, one idea caught everyone’s attention.

“Why don’t you establish a mission statement?” Snowshoe homeowner Gail Boyette suggested as the group tried to make a list of goals.

The group all agreed a mission statement would help them define exactly what they hope to achieve with the watershed.

“I don’t think our goal should be to tell people what they shouldn’t do,” Tom Shipley, owner of Sharp’s Country Store said, to which Boyette added, “We should be providing education and resource information.”

Looking ahead, EHWA President George Bell explained what he hopes to achieve by the end of the current series of meetings.

“We could, at the end of these four meetings, maybe identify what’s lacking as far as education and the availability of resources to fulfill some of the needs for action in the watershed,” said Bell.

As the group continued to brainstorm, education and involvement became two of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

Involvement of the people who live and work in the watershed was one of the group’s goals.

“If we all know at least one person who’s been here all their lives,” EHWA Secretary Tolly Peuleche said, “we could commit to talk to that one person. If everybody could talk to one person, we might get two or three of them to show up.”

“The outreach, I think, needs to come from this room. We here tonight are the people who have to be the ambassadors of what we’re proposing so that there is some familiarity with us and with the ideas,” Bell said.

The group came to a consensus that outreach to their neighbors is the best way to convince those not involved to become a larger part of the watershed.

While ideas to include all the important issues in the mission statement continued to come from around the room, Shipley came up with the rough draft version the group eventually developed.

Once the group all agreed on the mission statement, they quickly made a list of organizations and individuals to invite to the next meeting.

Downstream Strategies President Evan Hansen acted as facilitator for the meeting. He presented the organization with the “State of the Watershed” findings.

In the presentation, Hansen described the four watershed issues and concerns outlined in the report.

“Despite recent rapid development, the watershed if generally healthy; Big Spring Fork watershed is stressed, compared with others; sedimentation and flooding are emerging issues; and bacteria levels are generally low across the watershed,” Hansen said.

He suggested the group look at these four points to assist them in defining the goals of the organization.

The next EHWA meeting is Thursday, January 22, at 7 p.m. at the Slaty Fork Community Center.