Coalition Building in an Urban-Rural Watershed
This project strengthens research and community engagement partnerships among Iowa State University, Story County Conservation, the local citizen group Squaw Creek Watershed Coalition, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the regional non-governmental organization Prairie Rivers of Iowa to address one of the most challenging coupled human-environmental systems for community coalition building: that of a watershed. Through an engaged approach to data collection and social-environmental computer simulation modeling, we aim to empower citizens to work together with researchers and community partners to collect and assess water quality data and to devise locally relevant action projects that foster community building across a watershed.
