8.1 Introduction Before you begin any kind of restoration (clean-up or enhancement) on a watercourse make sure: - You have involved as many people as possible from the community in a well-organized way - You understand how your watercourse is structured, and how it works. - You have researched and surveyed your area to understand past and current land use patterns and the overall history of the watercourse. - You have contacted landowners along the system (see the tips on the next page) - You have created a rehabilitation plan-of-action in consultation with a habitat professional. Remember what is good for one watercourse may not be beneficial to another. Don't try to make decisions by yourself. - You have organized and educated your volunteers (covered in this section). - You have obtained the necessary permits required for work in watercourses (covered in this section). TIPS FOR DEALING WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND LANDOWNERS - Educate people rather than lecture them. Very often attitudes have been formed because of a lack of information. For example, many people are not aware that very small brooks are important fish habitat. - Learn to listen. Many people just want a chance to express their opinion and once that is done they're quite willing to listen to you. - Have your facts straight. There is nothing worse than accusing the wrong person of something. - Put yourself in the other person's shoes. How would you like someone telling you what to do on your land? How would you like to be approached if you were the landowner? - Emphasize the benefits of the program and the positive things that will come out of it. Resist the temptation to point a finger and lay blame. - Find out what aspects of the natural world the landowner is interested in. Most people are interested in some aspect. Perhaps the landowner is a birdwatcher and hasn't made the connection between a healthy environment and seeing more birds. Perhaps the landowner likes to fish but has no idea why there are less fish than there were thirty years ago. - Kitchen table type meetings as well as small to medium sized community meetings are good forums to introduce project. Kitchen meetings, or on-site visits good for potentially difficult stakeholders. Taking the time to do both the one on one and the larger meeting can be very beneficial. - Take property owners, community folks etc out into the field and walk through the site and talk about site and the proposed project etc. Like children, adults learn very well by spending time in the field.