The Red River Stakeholder Engagement project’s primary objective was to uncover areas of concern for stakeholders who live, work, and play along the Red River Basin. It examined the complexity of the cultural-geographic landscape across the Red River Basin. By focusing on both the geographic and the cultural, we gain a better understanding of how individuals, communities, and organizations interact with the basin and with one another, how they are currently experiencing changes, and what they perceive a changing climate means for them. This cultural-geographic approach recognizes that stakeholders’ concerns, priorities, and actions likely vary across space-and also vary in their cultural significance. For example, do private landowners who use the river for irrigation in the western part of the watershed have similar concerns to those who irrigate in the eastern section? Is there something more inherent to place, to jurisdiction, or to use patterns that influences concerns for the future of the river? We envision this project revealing a nuanced understanding of the complexity of the river basin, and also uncovering areas of shared interests and concern for future collaboration and action. We are confident this bottom-up approach will accomplish the South Central’s objective to address the impacts of climate variability.
