Watershed: The Blog

This blog is a great big experiment. My job (if you've checked my profile) is Information and Education Project Administrator. Which sounds as if I were responsible for administrating the sum total of human information and education until you understand that Blogger wouldn't let me list my job as Watershed Information and Education due to space considerations.

I am tasked with the responsibility of generally raising awareness about watersheds in South Dakota and specifically getting people to understand non-point source pollution. (More about what a watershed and non-point source pollution are later.) How I do this is through "outreach" which is one of those umbrella terms whose meaning changes depending on who is using it.


I use outreach to mean publications like brochures and newsletters, mailings, displays at farm/home/boat shows, workshops, watershed tours, incentives i.e. fridge magnets or coffee mugs with our message, Water Festivals, power point presentations, volunteer monitoring, field trips, web sites, public service announcements, press releases, letters to the editor and so on.

You can see why I use outreach as an umbrella term.

All these methods are good, effective and necessary. Most if not all of them turn up in a "Best Practices" manual for community organizing (which is another of those umbrella terms). Lately, these methods seem staid and scripted. I guess I'm looking to add something a little more kicky to that list. Blogs, by their very nature, are more immediate and informal than the methods listed above. That's kicky.

The great big experiment is whether or not immediate and informal works for talking about watersheds. I am a little worried that talking about watersheds in a blog will seem... I don't know, maybe silly and as if I were trying too hard.

I will admit to a personal reason for wanting to try an enviro-blog. I wanted to do some writing in a voice other than my public educator voice or my grant writer voice. I've tried personal blogs before for this reason and I quickly run out of things to say because, quite honestly, my life is not that interesting.

Now, about the title.

It's About The Watershed fails as a title for more than one reason. However, Blogger was insistent that I have one. The only other title I could come up with was Water Matters. Using the word matters which functions as a noun and a verb in the title (count is another word like that) is like using Comic Sans Serif font. Sure, I could do it, but why?

Since I have limited tolerance for meta-blogging or blogging about blogging, this is as far down this path I will go.

EXCEPT, to shamelessly beg for links and comments.

[Editor's Note: In her E-mail to me about this Blog, Anne Lewis indicated she has made the blog part of her job of getting out information an Watersheds..and I assume soil erosion. She honestly notes this might make her a "paid Shill". She is a SD resident. I think for blogs like this where the intent of the blog is clearly noted and the purpose appears to legitimately be in the public interest, I will let this one be added to the list. And what the heck, years ago, I had the PI&E title after my name spreading the good word about controlling drunken driving for the State of SD.
A quick glance at the blog indicates it is interesting and well-written. The wretched weather here is greatly limiting my time today for keeping SD Blog List up-to-date or serious nit-picking.--DW]