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Creating Consensus on Oregon’s Mid-Coast
Partners learn about water treatment at a local small water district.
T
he Mid-Coast region of Oregon is surprisingly complex in its hydrology. It contains eight hydrological basins, each with its own population demographics, water supply, and water needs. In this sense, the mid-coast is a microcosm of Oregon as a whole, which is also a climatically and geographically diverse state. In recognition of this fact, the state established an Integrated Water Resources Strategy in 2012 to coordinate efforts to understand and balance diverse water needs. The Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership is one of four pilot programs to across the state working to create a local, place-based regional water plan using this voluntary, nonregulatory approach. In this interview, Alan Fujishin, a local farmer and a coconvener of the partnership, tells Municipal Water Leader about the partnership’s activities and accomplishments.
Alan Fujishin: My wife, Lorissa, and I manage Gibson Farms, a blueberry and cattle farm in the Siletz Valley of Oregon’s central coast. We were approached in 2016, at the beginning of this collaborative, place-based planning process, to help represent the agricultural community and rural interests in the Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership. The partnership discovered that there is plenty of work to go around in water planning, so I agreed to become one of the coconveners along
20 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about the MidCoast Water Planning Partnership. Alan Fujishin: It is a regional planning group that represents diverse water interests in the mid-coast region. We work to understand and meet the water needs of local communities, the environment, and the economy within a bounded area. Oregon is a diverse state when it comes to climate and geography, and our 20th-century experience led us to the conclusion that a one-size-fits-all water policy for the state doesn’t work very well. The state’s Integrated Water Resources Strategy attempts to remedy that by coordinating the activities of state agencies and establishing local, placebased discussions and programs around water that are tailored to local needs and priorities. Municipal Water Leader: When was the partnership founded? Alan Fujishin: The partnership had its first meeting in 2016, after the City of Newport and the Oregon WRD cooperated on a grant to get the process started. Since then, we have brought together more than 70 local partners to participate in the process. We are more than three-quarters
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MID-COAST WATER PLANNING PARTNERSHIP.
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
with Seal Rock Water District, the City of Newport, and the Oregon Water Resources Department (WRD).
