Do you have passion for water and your community? Join the Water Stewards program for 2023

Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District is recruiting new Water Stewards for the upcoming year, 2023. Information sessions for prospective Water Stewards will be scheduled in the fall of 2022. Training for this volunteer program will begin in early January 2023.

What is the Water Stewards Program?

This program engages citizen volunteers to work within their communities to prevent water pollution, improve water quality at the grassroots level, and educate citizens to conserve and protect our waterways.  Begun in 2013 by Freshwater, the Water Stewards Program is a training and volunteer program and collaboration of partners across the metro area. Partners include watershed districts, cities, watershed management organizations, and other entities who volunteer and work together at a community level to improve water and educate the public about water issues.

Water Steward candidates participate in an online and in-person training process over several months, culminating in a capstone project that benefits our water health and educates local communities. This training approach is designed to help Stewards build the skills and gain knowledge to be a force for change in their communities and an asset to their partner organization. After graduation, Stewards receive support through continuing education and volunteer opportunities offered by Freshwater and partnering organizations.

Are you interested in becoming involved? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Are you concerned about the water quality in your community?
• Do you have a passion for learning new things, empowering yourself, and engaging others?
• Are you interested in building your leadership skills to help your community work together to support improvement in our local lakes, wetlands, and streams and address water conservation issues?
• Do you have a neighborhood or community in Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District that you would like to assist in working together to make changes that can impact water quality, other related issues, and enhance citizen education?

For some examples of projects, training, and activities our Water Stewards have been involved with over the years, here are several links from our Ripple Effect to learn about their efforts:

Master Water Stewards Kindle Creativity, Discovery and Action

Our Minnesota Water Stewards program is growing

Meet our new Master Water Stewards