Remember to Register for River Rally!

Many of the workshops over the May 21-24th River Rally will be particularly useful to those of us working to protect and restore rivers in the Intermountain West. Sessions of particular interest to western river lovers include: Abandoned Mine Reclamation, New Horizons in Western Water Issues, Federal Support for Waters of the Intermountain West, "Low Flows, Hot Trout" Converting Climate Science into Political Action, Oil Shale: Not What It's Cracked Up to Be, and much, much more.

In addition, an “intensive” (4-hour) workshop on Friday, May 21 will focus on Protecting Rivers on Forest Service Lands in the Intermountain West: Tools and Discussion. This session will include both presentations and strategic discussions among advocates and Forest Service staff. We'll review the status of water quality and riparian habitat on Forest Service lands in the region, investigate several case studies of successful, holistic restoration efforts and what it took to make those happen, and discuss new information and policy directions that will impact the future of Forest Service rivers. River Network staff will facilitate and presenters on special topics TBA. Want to see the draft agenda? See the draft agenda at the end of this posting.

River Rally is in the West this year – at Snowbird just outside of Salt Lake City , Utah – so it will be (relatively) easy for all of us to get to the event. Check out the River Rally website for descriptions of all the great workshops, fun events, field trips, and general benefits of attendance.

DRAFT
Friday, May 21st Forest Service Rivers intensive workshop
River Rally
Snowbird, Utah

8:30-9:00 am: Introductions and agenda overview (Facilitator: Merritt Frey, River Network)

Goal: participants know each other for today's discussions as well as future contacts.

9:00-10:00 am: Overview of water quality/riparian habitat on Forest Service lands in the Intermountain West, including Q & A. (Invited speaker: Douglas Norton, U.S. EPA)

Goals: participants understand general current status of information about water quality/riparian on Forest Service lands and have access to that information. Participants also leave understanding data/information under development and (if applicable) timeline for release of that information.

Output: River Network to produce (with assistance from U.S. EPA) summary of information (and the status of information) for participants and for distribution via online Clean Water West tools.

10:00-11:30 am: Quantity/quality/habitat intersection on Forest Service rivers – two or three case studies in restoration progress/success and replicable lessons. (Speakers: TBA)

Goals: Participants begin discussion of how to integrate policy tools such as the Clean Water Act, federal reserved water rights, etc for restoration and protection outcomes. Participants leave with at least two examples of how the tools can be combined to achieve holistic restoration and list of the opportunities and obstacles involved in trying these approaches at home.

Outputs: Presenters and River Network to create two short case studies for participants and for distribution via online Clean Water West tools. During session, produce a list of follow up questions about case studies AND a list of needs for additional case studies.

11:30—12:30 pm: Strategy discussion among river advocates and land management agency staff. (Facilitator: Merritt Frey, River Network)

• What are river restoration or protection priorities in home watersheds for river advocates?
• What is coming next from the U.S. Forest Service in terms of policy or tools?
• What policy tools should River Network develop training or other tools/analysis around?
• What are cross-cutting regional themes that may make sense for River Network to convene future discussions, analysis, etc. around?

Goals: River Network hears directly from participants about their needs and our possible roles, participants understand basic direction of Forest Service and how they can plug into that direction.

Outputs: River Network to create short strategy memo summarizing discussion and suggested next strategic steps. Forest Service staff to summarize input for their policy colleagues in DC and elsewhere.