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Assessing Collaboration Potential in the Saco River Watershed: A Multidisciplinary Graduate Student-Reserve Project

Assessing Collaboration Potential in the Saco River Watershed: A Multidisciplinary Graduate Student-Reserve Project

Webinar Description

Sophia Paul and Katie Pritchard were part of a Master's Project team of four graduate students from University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) working for the Wells Reserve to provide recommendations on the formation of a Saco River Watershed Collaborative. Master's Projects are interdisciplinary capstone experiences that enable U-M SEAS master's students to develop solutions to pressing problems faced by real-world clients. Wells NERR, the client for this project, is facilitating an effort to create a stakeholder network within the watershed and engaged the student team to conduct a situation assessment in order to assess residents' values and aspirations for the watershed, perceptions of issues, and interest in greater collaboration. Katie and Sophia provided an overview of the impetus for the project, their methods, their findings, and deliverables provided to Wells NERR. Their research supports the creation of a broader stakeholder network within the watershed, which could create more coordinated conservation and education efforts.

These slides summarize a webinar given by Sophia Paul, Katie Pritchard, Dr. Julia Wondolleck, and Dr. Chris Feurt on April 11, 2018. The webinar featured two University of Michigan master's students' research on conducting a situation assessment in order to assess residents' values and aspirations for the watershed, perceptions of issues, and interest in greater collaboration.