Potomac Watershed Partnership

Location:
Maryland, Delaware and metro-Washington, DC area

What lessons can be drawn?

The Potomac Watershed Partnership, though relatively young, has been through a lot of stages. Since its initially rocky beginnings, the group has overcome many challenges, has expanded to include more partners, is engaged in several collaborative projects making a difference in the Potomac watershed, and is poised with a focused strategic plan and more positive outlook for future collaborative efforts in the region. Building trust was essential to enabling the partners to work well together, and the process used in this case (the SPOT analysis) provides one effective model for how to build this trust. This process was also effective at engaging all of the partners to set goals, objectives, and measures of progress. Each partner knows its role in the Partnership and the PWP’s strategic plan document provides a road map for decision-making and accountability.

This case highlights the importance of having a designated Coordinator for such groups with a diversity of partners. When the group members were at odds, the skills, knowledge, and persistence of the new Coordinator kept the group moving forward. The Coordinator also brought an external perspective and experience. As one member of the partnership describes, “we had always done a pretty good job with brochures and showing what we had done, but after Alison came on board as Coordinator, all of a sudden we are producing some really high quality annual reports, which the private groups do in order to raise funds.” The state and federal government agencies gained new skills by working with someone familiar with the perspectives of nonprofit private organizations.

Another lesson in this Partnership is for the federal agencies. As one agency member comments, having a Coordinator for a largely federal-initiated collaborative partnership housed outside of the agency “brings [the Forest Service] closer to the conservation community. When you work for the federal government, you show up to the table, and everyone is kind of looking at you like, ‘what are you going to do? Are you going to take over? It’s really much more of a team effort if you’re able to do what we’ve done here on the Potomac.”

A final lesson is expressed in concert by the Coordinator housed in the nonprofit Potomac Conservancy and a Forest Service partner: “The success of the Potomac Watershed Partnership shows that a nonprofit can take the lead on a Federal initiative and effectively and efficiently administer it in a way that is productive for all partners. ‘Giving away’ that control [on the part of the Federal agencies] did not detract from the project’s effectiveness. In fact, it seemed to enhance it.” The placement of the coordinating role outside of the Federal agencies was crucial to this Partnership’s accomplishments.

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.