The Sand Hill River Watershed One Watershed, One Plan Local Government Units (SHRW 1W1P LGUs) on behalf of its members, is pleased to submit the Sand Hill River Watershed Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for a 60-day formal review. The SHRW 1W1P LGUs invite all recipients of this notice to submit comments on the plan by October 10, 2023.
The purpose of the advisory committee is to make recommendations to the policy committee. The bulk of input in the development of the plan will come from this group. Like the current county water planning process, the advisory committee is the original forum for vetting ideas and providing feedback on the plan to the plan writer. The advisory committee must include staff representatives from each local government and tribe or tribal community in the partnership and state water agencies (including the Metropolitan Council for watersheds that are part of the seven-county metro area). The Advisory Committee should include representatives from other groups such as (but not limited to): county highway and zoning staff, community water suppliers, municipalities, local non-profit groups organized around water, tribal nations, tribal communities, or tribal people, relevant tribal consortiums (1854 Treaty Authority and Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission), drainage authorities, lake or river associations, citizen-based environmental groups, sporting organizations, and farm organizations/agricultural groups. Depending on size and scope, more than one advisory committee (or a subcommittee structure) may be appropriate.
Regularly scheduled meetings (monthly to quarterly) maintain the momentum of the project, keeping members engaged in the planning process. Advisory committee members can anticipate approximately eight to twelve meetings throughout plan development, depending on committee structure(s) and other factors, with the potential for more total meetings if subcommittees are used or multiple meetings are held in different watershed locations. The potential size of the advisory committee can be a challenge. In order to get enough meaningful stakeholder input, you may want to consider holding separate citizen and technical advisory committees, using creative meeting formats to gather input (e.g., world café), or engaging existing local government committees (e.g., county water plan task force) or tribal commissions outside of the advisory committee. This latter solution requires additional commitment from lead staff from each local government unit and tribal representative to engage their local committees and commissions at appropriate times.
Members are as follows *please note this list is still evoloving and has not yet been approved by the policy committee:
