Water Resource Policies in Montana: Interactive Roles for Undergraduates

Abstract

In 2013, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation(DNRC) launched a two-year project to update the state's water plan.State officials convened basin-specific citizen councils, and theyorganized forums at which issues of water management could be broughtforward by the public. Based on this input, each basin council wascharged with developing specific water-policy recommendations in theform of basin water plans that would inform a comprehensive State WaterPlan. In the case of the Yellowstone Basin Advisory Council (YBAC),officials at Montana State University Billings negotiated a contractwith the natural-resources department allowing a designated team toprovide support for the various activities of the YBAC. One stipulationof the contract was that undergraduates could be involved as members ofthe support team and have access to all meetings held by the YBAC,including deliberative meetings at which policy recommendations wereformulated. Seven students were involved at various stages of thetwo-year process. Three students participated as reliable, dedicated,and indefatigable support-team members; their contributions to the YBACeffort evolved over the course of 18 meetings. Their contributions canbe summarized as: (1) community builders; (2) process facilitators; (3)process moderators; (4) ``soft{''} policy critics; and (5) ``soft{''}policy encouragers. This article explores those contributions aselements of policy development and explains the potential for specificlearning outcomes.