Watershed governance typically relies on more or less formal inter-organizational networks. An emerging body of literature seeks to analyze the role of social networks in natural resource management. This paper aims at contributing to this literature by developing a research frame to assess the effects of the structure of inter-organizational networks on the outcomes of watershed governance. We focus on a specific type of watershed partnership developed in France in the frame of European agri-environmental policy with the aim of limiting agricultural nonpoint source pollution: The Local Agri-Environmental Schemes. First empirical evidence suggests a crucial role of networks in their implementation. The insights provided by the literature on social networks and natural resource governance are used to formulate assumptions to be tested in future work. Finally, the research design is presented