The Importance of Capacity-Building in Watershed Groups: Lessons from the Hudson River Watershed, USA

Municipalities face challenges meeting environmental protection and conservation goals due to a lack of resources, capacity, and political will. As a result, grassroots environmental organizations often emerge to help meet these challenges by filling gaps in governmental operation and structure. At the watershed scale, environmental organizations and groups are critical for effective watershed governance, often helping with collaboration as well as providing municipalities with additional support and resources. Despite the vital role environmental organizations and groups can play, they continue to face challenges such as insufficient resources, inconsistent leadership, and lack of organizational structure, thus limiting the contributions they can deliver. In this manuscript, we present case study research on watershed groups exploring their capacity to meet their mission and goals. Drawing from a needs assessment study conducted in the Hudson River watershed in 2019–2021, we found that while watershed groups are generally in need of technical resources, participation, and funding, our research suggests capacity (such as internal structure, strategic planning, and leadership) is most important for successful and sustainable groups. Therefore, we argue that support for capacity is more likely to help sustain groups and their long-term beneficial impact. To make this argument we present qualitative interview and focus group data to articulate watershed group goals, challenges, and needs, with an emphasis on capacity-related themes that emerged around expertise, leadership, structure, and planning. We then conclude with recommendations that can be applied to other watershed groups in the United States, and likely beyond.