Changing Course: Comparing Emerging Watershed Institutions in River Restoration Contexts

How watershed collaborations adapt to changing conditions is an enduring question in collaborative resource management. Our research examined the goals and structure of collaborations within watersheds subject to the same federal and state regulations, but at different restoration states. We employed semistructured interviews, document analysis, and participant observation to complete our qualitative research. Our results suggest that policy stakeholders’ understandings of ecological and social attributes influence watershed goals. Within the impaired system, collaborations invested in shifting public perception to engender support for longer term biophysical restoration. Within the restored watershed, collaborations achieved dramatic biophysical improvements but were challenged in addressing social benefits of restoration. Redefining restoration to incorporate social and ecological systems at the outset provides the opportunity to set benchmarks for measuring success that incorporate social and ecological factors, and to create institutions adept at responding to shifting restoration states.