2000 Environmental Round Table
"The Clean Water Action Plan—Focus
on Healthy Wetlands"
and "Urban Sprawl and the MNRG"
November 6-9, 2000
Lied Conference Center in Nebraska City, Nebraska
Tuesday, November 7
8:00-8:10 - Convocation of the 2000 MNRG, Mr. John Sowl, National Park Service, Midwest Region, Omaha (Steinhart Room)
8:10-8:30 - Greetings to the MNRG and introduction to the 2000 Environmental Round Table. Review of the MNRG organizational purpose (Charter), overview of the selected discussion topics, and comments by Mr. Bill Schenk , Regional Director, Midwest Region, National Park Service and 2001 MNRG Chairman.
8:30-8:40 - Introduction to Discussion Topic 1:The Clean Water Action Plan-Focus on Healthy Wetlands, and introduction of CWAP in Action-Examples from the Field speakers. Mr. John Sowl.
8:40-10:00 - CWAP
in Action-Examples
from the Field. (Steinhart Room)
Questions to the speakers from the General Assembly, moderated by Mr. John
Perrecone, Environmental Protection Agency, Region V, Chicago.
- The Iowa River Corridor Project. Mr. Tim Meyer , Natural Resources Conservation Service, Williamsburg Field Office, Iowa
- The Bear Creek Project. Dr. Dick Schultz , Professor of Forestry, Iowa State University , Ames
- St. Croix Basin Water Resources Planning Team . Ms. Pamela Davis , St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, St. Croix Basin Water Resources Planning Team Coordinator; Stillwater , Minnesota
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 - Self-facilitated Focus Area group discussions to develop and/or define a Focus Area-specific process for achieving healthy wetlands (Steinhart Room; West AssemblyA andC; Marcotte Room)
Goal for Topic 1: Each Focus Area develops and/or defines its own process for achieving healthy wetlands . This process should reduce unnecessary duplication of efforts, encourage inter-organizational and inter-governmental coordination, and facilitate the prioritization of wetlands within the Focus Area for preservation, restoration, and/or enhancement. This activity could benefit from an assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the approach currently being used within the Focus Area.
12:00-1:30 p.m. Lunch (Steinhart Lodge)
1:30-2:30 - Reconvene MNRG (Steinhart Room). Focus Area groups conduct interactive discussions among Focus Areas to share their preliminary findings for defining a process to achieve healthy wetlands. Together they work to further define features that may be preferred or common to all of these various Focus Area processes and summarize these findings for presentation to the General Assembly.
2:30-3:00 Break
3:00-4:30 Focus Areas report their defined processes for achieving healthy wetlands in facilitated General Assembly (5 minutes per Focus Area). Mr. John Perrecone, Facilitator. Close of General Assembly activities for the day.
4:30-5:00 Planning Committee summarizes Focus Area recommendations regarding their "Focus on Healthy Wetlands."
Close of day's session (Steinhart Room)
Wednesday, November 8
8:00 - Reconvene MNRG, Mr. John Sowl (Steinhart Room). Distribute “Focus on Healthy Wetlands” iAugust 25, 2006Introduction to Discussion Topic 2: “Urban Sprawl and the MNRG” and preview of day’s activities. Mr. John Sowl.
8:15-8:45 - Status Report of the MNRG’s Transportation/Land Use/Natural
Resource
Task Force Activities and recommendations to-date. Mr. William Fung,
Wisconsin Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Madison.
8:45-10:15 - Panel discussion: “What is Urban Sprawl and What Should be the Federal Role with Regard to Addressing Its Environmental Effects and Why?” Mr. Lyle Hyde, Moderator; Federal Highway Administration, Midwestern Resources Center, Olympia Fields, Illinois.
- Mr. Denny Caneff, Policy & Development Coordinator, American Farmland Trust, Upper Midwest Regional Office, Verona, Wisconsin
- Mr. Charles Howard, Planning Director, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, Washington
- Ms. Mary C. Koslak, Transportation and Land Use Director, Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, Minnesota
- Mr. Tim Torma, Deputy Director, Development, Community and Environment Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, Washington, D.C.
10:15-10:30 - Break
10:30-12:00 - Facilitated interactive discussion between the speaker’s panel and the General Assembly to define the appropriate MNRG role toward urban sprawl. Mr. John Perrecone, EPA, Facilitator; Ms. Jane West, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3, Minneapolis, Recorder.
Goal for Topic 2: “The MNRG defines the appropriate role it should take with regard to urban sprawl and recommends appropriate measures to encourage inter-organizational and inter-governmental coordination to address the effects of urban sprawl on natural resource management.”
12:00-1:30 p.m. - Lunch – Lied Center restaurant
1:30 - Reconvene MNRG, Mr. John Sowl (Steinhart Room)
1:30-2:15 - “Mid-Atlantic Federal Partners for the Environment (MAFPE) Workgroup on Urban Growth.” Mr. Rich Kampf, Director of the Office of Environmental Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Philadelphia.
2:15-2:45 - Break
2:45-4:00 - Facilitated discussion period for General Assembly to define and agree upon their final MNRG position regarding urban sprawl. Mr. John Perrecone, EPA, Facilitator; Ms. Jane West, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3, Minneapolis, Recorder. Close of day’s General Assembly activities.
4:00-6:00 - Focus Area leaders report individual Focus Area progress to
date, upcoming work, and Focus Area needs and concerns to senior managers
in an interactive format. Senior managers respond with recommendations. Mr.
John Sowl, Facilitator; Ms. Jane West, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region
3, Minneapolis, Recorder (Steinhart Room)
4:00-5:00 - Concurrent session for Planning Committee to summarize Focus
Area conclusions and recommendations regarding the “Focus on Healthy
Wetlands” and “Urban Sprawl and the MNRG” for presentation
to senior managers. Planning Committee members (Marcotte Room)
6:30-9:30 - Senior managers’ working dinner (West Assembly A). Mr. Bill Schenk, MNRG Chairman and session leader
(West Assembly C). Senior managers respond to recommendations from Focus Area leader reports regarding individual Focus Area progress to date, upcoming work, and Focus Area needs and concerns. Planning Committee present.
Senior managers receive summary of Focus Area conclusions and recommendations regarding the “Focus on Healthy Wetlands” and “Urban Sprawl and the MNRG” discussion topics.
Senior managers evaluate the discussion topic recommendations presented by the MNRG General Assembly and formulate conclusions, goals, strategies or directives to address these topics for presentation to the General Assembly on Thursday.
Thursday, November 9
8:00-9:00 - (West Assembly Room) Distribute summary of Focus Area conclusions and recommendations regarding “Urban Sprawl and the MNRG” to General Assembly. Senior managers present their conclusions and directives for addressing the “Focus on Healthy Wetlands” and “Urban Sprawl and the MNRG,” topics, including a presentation of goals and strategies. Questions answered. Closing remarks to the General Assembly: Mr. Bill Schenk, MNRG Chairman.
9:00-9:30 - Break (Members of General Assembly depart)
9:30-11:45 - Senior managers’ business meeting with Planning Committee and Communications Committee (West Assembly A)
- Topic 1: Interactive discussion with Planning Committee about defining the most effective structure, membership and purpose of future Environmental Round Tables.
- Topic 2: Discussion of the MNRG’s GIS mapping goals and needs.
- Topic 3: Discussion of any changes in the agencies’ key issues.
- Topic 4: Identify host, location, dates and agenda items of next
senior managers’
meetings and possibly for next Environmental Round Table.
11:45-12:00 - Concluding Remarks, Mr. Bill Schenk, MNRG Chairman