Thousands of watershed groups or partnerships have emerged across the United States to protect water resources and improve water quality. Many of these watershed groups have been unsustainable due to lack of funding, ineffective leadership, and failure to incorporate local ecological knowledge and risk perception into their decision making processes. This research focuses on the role of local ecological knowledge and risk perception in watershed management. Both parameters can inform decision makers about local ecological, social, and political contexts, essential for constructing management schemes that promote sustainable development and community wellbeing. Using a study site in southern Illinois, the study will: (a) delineate watershed partnership stakeholders' conceptions of their watershed risk context; (b) explore stakeholders' perceptions of water quality risks and determine if they have shared and integrated perceptions of risk; and (c)characterize the nature of the relationship between local ecological knowledge and risk perception and how this relationship is influenced by the watershed risk context.
