In keeping with the Alliance's goal of helping to create watershed groups throughout the Sierra, we have produced a basic "how-to" guide for people interested in starting new groups or strengthening existing ones. It's called the Watershed Council Toolkit.

What some people like best about the Toolkit is that it doesn't just present one way of doing things.

Instead, it looks at how other watershed councils around the country have organized themselves and helps identify the pros and cons of each different structure. This way, you can see what might work best for you depending on your own situation!

As its name implies, the Toolkit is designed to provide a set of tools to make activists' participation in watershed councils more effective and/or the group's activities more productive so that they can continue to create positive change in their watersheds.

The Toolkit describes a process for organizing stake-holders into an effective group that can:

a.) assess the watershed's condition;

b.) create an action plan for addressing issues and maintaining or enhancing the watershed's health; and

c.) carry out those actions, including finding funding and conducting necessary monitoring and follow-up activities.

The 122-page Toolkit is divided into three parts. The first contains information on what watersheds are, how different stakeholder groups have come together for the good of their watershed, and what the benefits may be to starting or participating in a watershed council in your watershed.

Part II looks at "Getting Started," including some of the important steps or decisions regarding organizational structure, decision-making processes and participant makeup.

And the third part discusses how to keep a watershed council going once it is started. This section may be helpful to those who are already involved in collaborative groups but who want to know how to make their organizations more effective.

The Toolkit also has an appendix section with contact information for additional watershed work and community-based partnership resources, including organizations and initiatives, publications, and tech-nical assistance for non-profits.

In its hardcopy form, The Toolkit has made its way out of the Sierra and across the U.S. to watershed groupies in places like the Great Lakes, Hawaii, and Maine. We've even tracked one copy overseas to Ghana! Our goal is to get this resource out to, in the words of Martha Davis, "those who will give it a good home."

As part of that commitment, The Toolkit is now available free-of-charge at the Sierra Nevada Alliance website. Please credit the Sierra Nevada Alliance is you download and use the toolkit. Those who would like their very own slick paperback edition can still order them from the Alliance Office. We are asking for $25 per hardcopy to offset part of the production and shipping costs. To order a copy, call us at 530.542.4546 or send a check for $25 to the Alliance at PO Box 7989, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158.