River Network Webinars

Upcoming Webinars| Recorded Webinars

Throughout the year, River Network provides webinars on topics of interest to the river conservation community. River Network Partners can participate in these online trainings at greatly discounted prices (often free for current Partners). This page allows you to RSVP for upcoming webinars, and view those already recorded.

To participate in a webinar, you will need:

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Water Quality Standards 101

Presenter: Merritt Frey, River Network
Date: Wednesday, February 15
Time: 9am (pst) | 10am (mst) | 11am (cst) | Noon (est)
RSVP: RSVPs no longer being accepted; Webinar is Filled
Summary: This will be a 101-level training, suitable for river and watershed organizations, land trusts, tribal governments, and wildlife or lands groups interested in better understanding the power of one of the Clean Water Act's core programs.

Water quality standards are the building blocks for all kinds of efforts to protect and restore our rivers, lakes and wetlands. Water quality standards establish the uses we make or want to make of our rivers (from swimming to trout habitat to irrigation) and set limits for pollutants and other parameters necessary to make rivers safe for those uses. In addition, standards establish policies that help keep clean waters clean.

What will you learn in water quality standards 101?

  • The basic components of standards – designated uses, water quality criteria, and the antidegradation policy – and how they can be used to protect your rivers.
  • Mechanisms for public input and influence in standards development.
  • Where to find your own state's water quality standards, and how to navigate within them.
  • Opportunities for improving standards in your state and around the region – from nutrient pollution control to biocriteria development.

2011 Fundraising Results for River and Watershed Groups - Overall Trends and Tested Techniques

Presenter: Baird Straughan
Date: Thursday, March 1
Time: 11am (pst) | Noon (mst) | 1pm (cst) | 2pm (est)
RSVP: Webinar is free, but RSVP is required
Summary: In the third year of the economic slump, how did fundraising by river and watershed groups fare? Have donations declined? How does your organization compare to others? Based on the results of the 15 groups using the WaterGrass database, we'll compare 2011 to previous years. We'll also look at some techniques like reinforcing mail appeals with emails, and segmenting lists geographically, to see how well they worked.
About Baird: Baird Straughan heads the team that created and supports WaterGrass, the database for river and watershed groups. He’s worked with environmental organizations about two decades now, originally as a trainer and consultant, and spent 9 years leading Executive Director and Fundraising programs at the Institute for Conservation Leadership. He concentrates especially on measuring results, and launched the WaterGrass database so that organizations would have a tool that allows them to track what’s important, and so that the rivers movement would have real time, complex data on how organizations are doing and what the movement as a whole is achieving.
Note: Bring data from your own 2011 end of year appeal - rate of return, and average gift.

Biocritiera in the Real World: Intermediate Level

Presenter: Susan Davies, formerly of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (now retired)
Date: Wednesday, March 21
Time: 9am (pst) | 10am (mst) | 11am (cst) | Noon (est)
RSVP: Webinar is free, but RSVP is required
Summary: This will be an intermediate webinar, suitable for river lovers who have a basic grasp of the Clean Water Act’s water quality standards program. If you need to brush up on standards, attend our February 15 Water Quality Standards webinar or take the standards lesson in our Online Clean Water Act course.

This webinar will provide an understanding of bioassessement, biocritiera, and the possible power of those tools in protecting and restoring your watershed. Bioassessements are an evaluation of the biological condition of a waterbody using biological surveys and other direct measurements of macroinvertebrates, fish, etc. Bioassessements both support development of biocriteria and decisions regarding the attainment of biocriteria. Biocriteria are either narrative or numeric expressions that describe the reference biological integrity (structure and function) of various aquatic communities. The reference conditions become the “goal” or criteria for other similar waterbodies, and are used for Clean Water Act regulatory purposes. Our speaker, Susan Davies, is widely recognized as one of the leading experts on biocritiera development and use, and has real-world experience from her work in Maine and beyond.

What will you learn in Biocriteria in the Real World?

  • The fundamentals of bioassessement and biocritiera – and how they can be used to protect your rivers.
  • Examples of how strong biocritiera programs have made a difference for rivers, lakes and wetlands – applying the theory of biocritiera in the real world.
  • Where to find information on your own state's bioassessement and biocritiera programs, and how to understand what you find.

Future Webinars:

If you have an idea for a future presentation, please contact Katherine Luscher.

RECORDED WEBINARS

Advocacy 101: How to Build Relationships and Get Results with Decision Makers at All Levels of Government
Presenter: Liz Birnbaum
Date Recorded: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Summary: Effective advocates know that getting their message across to decision-makers requires more than a single letter or meeting; results are based on the development of long-term relationships with decision-makers and their staffs. This webinar will discuss how to build those relationships to get real results for your river.

What you will learn in this webinar:

  • How to prepare for meetings with politicians and government officials.
  • How to structure a meeting to get your message across and lay the foundation for further discussion.
  • How to start the process of relationship-building with even hostile politicians.

The Clean Water Act Through the Biological Lens
Presenter: Bob Adler, Professor of Law, University of Utah
Date Recorded: Friday, November 18
Summary: This summer River Network produced an issue of our newsletter -- River Voices -- with a focus on how to look at the Clean Water Act through a biological lens. That is, how can the Act be better used to protect ecosystem integrity, the physical structure of a system, habitat, flow and all the interrelated aspects that make a system whole?

As follow up, we hosted a webinar to cover the newsletter topics in a format that mixes a presentation from a very well-known Clean Water Act expert – Bob Adler --- and discussion of YOUR ideas and experiences with the topics. Don’t miss this exciting chance to think creatively about one of our nation’s most important environmental laws and to hear how your peers around the country are applying it creatively to protect and restore flows, riparian habitats, and more!

Managing Stormwater in Redevelopment and Greenfield Development Projects Using Green Infrastructure: Economic Factors that Influence Developersʼ Decisions
Presenters: Ed Macmullan and Sarah Reich, ECO Northwest
Date Recorded: Wednesday August 17th, 2011
Summary: Clean water and healthy communities go hand in hand. Urban areas are increasingly using green infrastructure to create multiple benefits for their communities. However, there have been questions whether strong stormwater standards could unintentionally deter urban redevelopment and shift development to environmentally damaging sprawl. Smart Growth America, American Rivers, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, River Network and NRDC commissioned ECONorthwest to address this question. The resulting report, Managing Stormwater in Redevelopment and Greenfield Development Projects Using Green Infrastructure, highlights several communities that are protecting clean water with strong, volume-based stormwater standards and also fostering redevelopment. The findings show that clean water and urban redevelopment are compatible. Ed Macmullan and Sarah Reich from ECO Northwest will present the findings and answer questions. The report is available at www.americanrivers.org/cleanwatersmartgrowth.

An Artificial Distinction: tools for addressing low flow problems under the Clean Water Act
Presenter: Merritt Frey, River Network's Habitat Program Director
Date Recorded: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Summary: This intermediate-level webinar will explore ways to better use Clean Water Act tools to protect and restore in-stream flows in our rivers. Our discussion will include tying water quality standards to flow needs, applying the states’ 401 water quality certification power more broadly to flow issues, and expanding creative use of the Total Maximum Daily Load program to better identify and remedy habitat and/or flow-related impairments. Each finding is illustrated with real world examples from the states and includes recommendations for – and limitations to – importing the policy ideas into new states. Participants should have a basic understanding of Clean Water Act concepts in order to benefit from this webinar…bone up with our online course at www.cleanwateract.org.

Charity Lobbying, Session 2 (of 2): Advanced Strategies for 501(h) Electing Charities, Funding Realities & Electioneering Edges
Presenter: Terry Miller, River Network's Financial Manager
Date Recorded: Thursday, June 23, 2011
Summary: This session will assume a basic comfort level with lobbying as a charitable activity, understanding of the 501(h) formulas, "exempt purpose expenditures" and the basic distinction between the two types of lobbying activity (direct and grassroots). In the session we will dig a little deeper looking for opportunities to comply with the rules and maximize available funding, by discussing what is NOT lobbying and what is NOT grassroots lobbying (just direct, which you get more of). Along with these we will discuss certain thought-provoking advanced strategies under 501(h) to maximize funds in an issue campaign, and to reinforce and explore how the 501(h) rules work. We also will cover what the rules are for private foundations generally (some of the "what is not lobbying" applies to them as well) and what their rules are for funding a project with clear lobbying components. Finally, we will touch on when lobbying can become electioneering in an election year and/or how to avoid making it become electioneering.
Who should attend?

  • Program staff needing to understand the basics and reduce fear of public policy advocacy
  • Issue campaigners wanting to maximize activity and not over-state lobbying
  • Finance staff looking for ideas on how to capture costs
    This session will encourage Q&A; follow-up support is available to River Network Partner organizations. The trainer is a River Network staff person with over 20 years of experience on this topic.

Charity Lobbying, Session 1 (of 2): Introduction to Charity Lobbying and the 501(h) Election
Presenter: Terry Miller, River Network's Financial Manager
Date Recorded: Thursday, June 16, 2011
Summary: In this session we will discuss the history of lobbying as a charitable (501(c)(3)) activity and why lobbying is OK, even encouraged by tax policy for public charities? We will briefly discuss the key cases and legislation that got us to the point where we are with regard to the rules for charity lobbying. Then we will cover the key differences between "electing" and non-electing charities - the 501(h) "expenditure test." Most experts recommend that any charity contemplate much if any explicit lobbying should make the election and we will cover why that is. From there we will go in to the 501(h) election details: how to make the election, how to calculate the two lobbying "allowances" under the election and the definition differences between direct and grassroots lobbying.

Risk Management for Nonprofits
Presenter: Susan Smith, Senior Account Executive with Beehive Insurance
Date Recorded: May 18, 2011
Summary: An overview of Risk Management 101. Why does your organization need insurance coverage? Find out who can sue you, and how you can protect your organization’s assets and the assets of your board members. This webinar explores how to assess and contain your risk, and review various topics related to of risk management and the appropriate insurance coverage for your organization and board members. Susan Smith specializes in insuring nonprofit organizations in all 50 states, and has partnered with Great American Insurance Company, to provide a greatly discounted D&O coverage for River Network Partners.

USGS: Resources and Tools for River Conservationists
Presenter: Cory Angeroth, USGS Hydrologist/Chief
Date Recorded: April 20, 2011
Summary: Since the late 1800s, the U.S. Geological Survey has been collecting and publishing reliable, impartial, and timely information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the impacts of climate and land-use change, and the core science systems that help us provide timely, relevant, and useable information. The USGS uses a variety of traditional and new medial tools, including social media, to share information and help the public understand how science addresses some of our Nation's most pressing issues. This talk will provide a tour of USGS web pages and show what data are available and various methods of access.

Protecting water quality from federal permitted activities: 401 water quality certification
Presenter: Merritt Frey, River Network
Date Recorded: Jan. 19, 2011
Summary: The webinar covers:

  • The basic federal requirements of the water quality certification policies, and how those are
    often applied at the state level.
  • Mechanisms for public input and influence in certification.
  • A snapshot of the status of 401 certification in states around the country, with a focus on the
    West.
  • Examples of how watershed groups and others have used the power of certification to protect
    wetlands, in-stream flow, and more.
  • Where to find more resources to dive in deeper on the issue.

Using 401 water quality certification on Nationwide Permits (wetland permits)
Presenter: Merritt Frey, River Network
Date Recorded: Feb. 16, 2011
Summary: The webinar covers:

  • The timeline and process for NWP reissuance and 401 certification will be, and how you
    can be involved.
  • What states did with the power of 401 certification on the last round of NWPs.
  • How to advocate for conditions that will be protective of water quality and habitat…including
    sample conditions you can use in your own work.
  • Where to learn more and connect with your state 401 certification process.

Case studies: 401 water quality certification in the real world
Presenters: Merritt Frey, River Network & Dean Naujoks, Yadkin Riverkeeper
Date Recorded: March 16, 2011
Summary: This webinar presents case studies demonstrating the power of 401 water quality certification to address issues from flow to aesthetics to wetland habitat. Examples from all around the country, and the real story of what it takes to use the power of 401 water quality certification in your watershed are discussed.

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