Charter

This revised charter was signed November 17, 2004.

Charter (3/30/2005) (PDF, 3pp, 252K)

Introduction

The Midwest Natural Resources Group (MNRG) was formally established in 1998 as a forum for federal agency senior executives to obtain proactive coordination of funded activities and to clearly establish the proper role of each federal bureau with the Upper Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River and the Great Lakes watersheds.

Purpose

The purpose of the MNRG is to seek opportunities for collaboration and communication by:

sharing best agency practices and identifying common issues, coordinating actions, resolving conflicts, and enhancing the effectiveness of existing funded natural resource efforts being undertaken;
exploring and committing to new opportunities for cooperation, collaboration and action at the regional and local scales;
promoting the maximum efficient use of agency resources within existing systems while not creating new levels of bureaucracy;
improving agencies' ability to achieve their strategic plans;
reporting cooperative accomplishments in order to promote greater understanding and awareness of the high environmental and socio-economic values and needs of the region's natural resources;
garnering federal focus and fiscal support toward the enhancement of these resources; and
providing enhanced accountability to the public and better utilization of limited resources to reap maximum benefits for the natural resources, environment and people of the Midwest.

Guiding Principles

The MNRG aims to achieve this overarching goal through the implementation of the following Guiding Principles:

The value of the MNRG is realized by the participation of its senior leaders.
Member agencies recognize that the strength of the MNRG is derived from the diversity of member agency roles and mission responsibilities.
Success of the MNRG is measured by its contributions toward promoting the health, vitality and sustainable stewardship of natural resource systems within the Upper Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River and Great Lakes watersheds.
The MNRG is not project-driven but results-driven.
The MNRG is about building relationships on mutually recognized resource issues through the promotion of effective interagency communication, collaboration and cooperation and by providing timely interagency assistance where needed for the benefit of the American public.

Adherence to these guiding principles will serve to keep the MNRG relevant and an effective organization.

Goal

The organizational goal of the MNRG is to function as a partnership of federal agency executives that advocate excellence in federal activities in support of the health, vitality, and sustainable stewardship of natural resource systems within the Upper Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River and Great Lakes watersheds.

The MNRG aims to achieve this overarching goal through enhanced communications, coordination and collaboration on mutually recognized resource issues and by providing timely interagency assistance where needed for the benefit of the American public.

Membership

Each member agency is represented by its signatory regional executive (list attached). In the event that an agency's official representative is unable to participate in a meeting, that agency is responsible for degnating an acting executive to serve as a substitute.

revised 9/3/04