XSP

It all began in September 2022, when Mesa Conservation District responded to a call for letters of interest and was selected as one of three communities for a pilot project…

WHAT:

A two-day community Exploratory Scenario Planning (XSP) workshop to examine issues affecting water availability for agriculture in Mesa County. The effort included preparatory and follow-up meetings with a community steering committee and nearly 40 in depth interviews for 3 months leading up to a 2-day intensive workshop.

Learn more about Exploratory Scenario Planning here.

WHO:

Experts from the Babbitt Center and Arizona State University ran the 2-day workshop with the assistance of Mesa Conservation District and members of the local steering committee. Workshop participants included the Steering Committee, a Local Partners Core Team and Workshop Participants. 

WHEN:

The process led by Babbitt and ASU ran from February through mid-April 2023. Babbitt and ASU took the data gathered and will compile a report that will be shared with MCD and the local stakeholders who participated summer of 2023. MCD is currently using strategies developed during the April meeting to guide their Local Working Group process as well as compiling a searchable strategy database on our website.

To see a timeline of the workshop, click here. 

WHERE:

The in-person 2-day workshop in March and the follow up strategy session in April were held at the Western Colorado Community College campus.

GOAL:

The goal of the project is to help agricultural communities explore the impacts of changes in water availability and other critical factors by envisioning a diverse array of plausible future scenarios and identify potential strategies to prevent, mitigate, or even take advantage of potential futures.  By participating, Mesa County, not just the Conservation District, is eligible to apply for funding to implement community supported recommendations resulting from the project.

LEARN MORE:

• Exploratory Scenario Planning Policy Brief

• What is Exploratory Scenario Planning? 

• The Mesa Conservation District Process