CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WATERSHEDS
A Conference on Volunteer Stewardship

JANUARY 13 - 16, 2005


MERRITT COLLEGE
12500 Campus Drive, Oakland, California

An occasion for those who have a stake in the health of our watersheds and our communities to discuss obstacles and opportunities for Volunteer Stewardship in the East Bay and beyond.

An invitation
to anyone with an interest in local creeks and watersheds.  This includes Creek and Watershed Organizations, Educators, Agency Staff, Scientists, Engineers, Developers, Neighborhood Organizations, Elected Officials, Corporate and Business Professionals, Design Professionals, Students, Community Organizers, Environmentalists, Community Gardeners, Landscapers, Fire Vegetation Managers, Naturalists, Planners, and others curious about creek- and watershed-related issues.

Sponsors
The East Bay Watershed Center and the David R. Brower, Ronald V. Dellums Institute for Sustainable Policy Studies at Merritt College, and the Watershed Project, Friends of Five Creeks, Friends of the Estuary, San Francisco Bay Joint Venture

Honorary Co-Chairs
David R. Brower, In Memoriam
Ronald V. Dellums

This is the 3rd in a series of watershed gatherings initiated by the Joint Meeting of Bay Area Watershed Groups in 2002. This conference is an effort to close infrastructure and network gaps within the watershed community.  The interactive format will prioritize time for conversation so that individuals, groups and agencies can talk to each other about their experiences and to work towards creating solutions.

Thursday evening's program is free and OPEN TO ALL --> POSTER SESSION, DINNER and KEYNOTE ADDRESS --> Thursday evening, January 13, 2005, 5 to 8 p.m.

•Daily plenary sessions, topical workshops, and facilitated roundtable discussions on Organizational Development for Creek Groups, Watershed Science, Watershed Management & Policy, Society & Education • FREE dinner with keynote address on Thursday evening • daily speakers • poster session • field trips •

Costs:  General admission, $25.  Students and volunteers, $13 to $15.  Prices inclued all daytime sessions and field trips for all four days, and 0.5 Unit college credit.  NO REGISTRATION OR FEES REQUIRED for Thursday evening's poster session, dinner and keynote address (5 to 8 p.m.).  Click here for lunch information.

Help out:
  We need people to help with the conference.  Currently, we need people for setup, registration/information tables, poster coordination, note taking, as time keepers, and other roles.  Please contact the EBWC at ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net or 510-434-3840 if you'd like to be a part of making this conference happen!

Poster Session:
  Click here for poster session details


Stop Waste:  Be sure to bring a cup for coffee/tea/refreshments, and a plate or bowl and utensils if you will be joining us for the Thursday evening dinner. 

Click here for Conference Pre-Registration

Or, contact the EBWC with the following information: 
*Name
*Affiliation (if any)
*Contact informaiton (address, phone number, fax, and/or e-mail)
*When you plan to attend
*If you will bring a poster for display

If you would like to include a display in the poster session, please contact the EBWC at ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net or 510-434-3840.

To download and print a registration form and flyer (large file, 5.7 MB), click here -->  Conversations About Watersheds flyer

To subscribe to the EBWC's conference information announcement-only e-mail list, click here

For information on getting to and parking at Merritt Collge, click here

For more information, contact the East Bay Watershed Center at ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net or (510) 434-3840 (http://merritt.edu/~envst/).


General Conference Schedule


Through January 12, 2005Pre-Conference:  Volunteer and facilitator briefing, materials preparation, room set up.

Thursday, January 13: Local and Regional Regulatory Policy; Citizen Restoration
10:00-11:45 -- Poster Setup and Continuous Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall
11:45 - 12:30 -- Lunch
12:30 - 12:45 -- Introduction and Welcome, Main Lounge
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:
12:45 - 5:30
Bay Area Stream Buffers:  Current Regulatory Efforts and Next Steps, Main Lounge
Introduction to Watershed Restoration, Room R-7
Evening Program:
5:00 - 6:30 -- Continuous Registration and Poster Session, Main Lounge and Main Hall
6:30 - 8:00 -- Dinner Buffet, Dining Hall
7:15 - 8:00 -- Keynote Address, William Jordan, III: An Instant & Immeasureable Crop: Stewardship & the Building of a Conservation Economy, Dining Hall

Friday, January 14: Building Collaboration Within the Watershed Community
8:30 - 9:00 -- Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall
9:00 - 9:15 -- Welcome, Main Lounge
9:15 - 11:45 -- Plenary:  Volunteer Stewardship, Main Lounge, includes keynote addresses and discussion listed below
9:15 - 9:45 -- Keynote Address:  Robin Freeman:  The Empire and the Artisan:  Creeks, Community & Governance, Main Lounge
9:45 - 10:15 -- Keynote Address:  Sharon Farrell:  Social & Ecological Dimensions of Community Stewardship, Main Lounge
10:15 - 10:30 -- Break
10:30 - 11:45 -- Facilitated Discussion:  Volunteer Motivations, Main Lounge
12:00 - 12:30 -- Lunch
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:
12:45 - 4:15
Volunteer Watershed Management & Policy, Main Lounge
Regulatory Policy, Land Use Planning, Room R-126/R-130
Organizational Development for Creek Groups (The Watershed Project), Room R-7

4:30 - 5:30 -- Afternoon Plenary: Collaboration & Partnerships (Facilitated Discussion), Main Lounge
5:45 - 7:00 -- Poster Session & Hors D'Oevres, Main Lounge and Main Hall

Saturday, January 15:  Growing to Scale:  Building a Broader Watershed Community
8:30 - 9:00 -- Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall
9:00 - 9:15 -- Welcome, Main Lounge
9:15 - 11:45 -- Plenary:  Volunteer Stewardship, Main Lounge, includes keynote addresses and discussion listed below
9:15 - 9:45 -- Keynote Address:  Steven B. Rauh:  Well-Being for Watersheds, Children & Communities:  The Need for Social Impact Statements in Restoring the Global Environment, Main Lounge
9:45 - 10:15 -- Keynote Address:  Sharon Fuller:  Cultural Competency:  Engaging Today's Environmental Leaders, Main Lounge
10:15 - 10:30 -- Break
10:30 - 11:45 -- Facilitated Discussion:  Creating a Long Term Regional & Local Vision, Main Lounge
12:00 - 12:30 -- Lunch
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:
12:45 - 3:30
Revegetation for Watersheds, Room TBD
Volunteers & Watershed Science, Room R-7
Watershed Culture & Education, Room R-130/126
Watershed Culture & Education, Room TBD
Watershed Culture & Education, Room TBD

3:00 - 4:00 -- Poster Session, Main Lounge and Main Hall
Sunday, January 16:  Workshop & Field Trips
1:00 - 4:30 -- Workshop:  Shaping and Effective Watershed Council with Sari Sommarstrom, Temescal Branch Library 5205 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland.
10:00 - 12:00 -- Field Trip:  Breuner March, Richmond, Meeting Places TBD
10:00 - 2:30 -- Field Trip:  Nursery Tour, Various East Bay Locations, Meeting Places TBD



Session Details


Thursday, January 13:  Local and Regional Regulatory Policy, Citizen Restoration

Morning Program:

10:00 - 11:30 -- Poster Setup and Continuous Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall.  Coffee, tea, refreshments, and morning snacks availabe.  Pre-order lunch (from the campus cafeteria) at the registration tables by 11:00.
11:45 - 12:30 -- Lunch
12:30 - 12:45 -- Introduction and Welcome by Robin Freeman, Main Lounge

Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:

Bay Area Stream Buffers: Current Regulatory Efforts and Next Steps, Main Lounge

12:15 -12:30 -- Welcome (Robin Freeman, East Bay Watershed Center; Bill Kier, Kier Associates)
12:45 - 1:30 -- What setbacks can and cannot do - research findings. Ken Schwarz, Jones & Stokes, with background from Jim Robins, Alnus Ecological Consulting.
1:30 - 2:15 -- Buffers and the law: Ellison Folk, Shute, Mihaly, & Weinberger
2:15 - 3:30 -- The Portland, Oregon experience: Two steps forward and one back? Jim Labbe, Portland Audubon
3:30 - 3:45 -- break
3:45 - 4:30 -- Rocky roads to buffer regulation: Leslie Estes, City of Oakland Environmental Services; Craig Breon, Santa Clara Valley Audubon; Austin McInerny, Center for Collaborative Policy
4:30 - 5 :00 -- Next steps: Roger Leventhal, Far West Engineering; Emmanuel Ursu, Planning Director, City of Orinda; Mike Houlihan, Santa Clara Valley landowner; Juliana Rebagliati, Principal Planner, City of Santa Cruz.
5:00 - 5:30 -- Facilitated discussion of panel and roundtable. Moderator: Mary Selkirk, Center for Collaborative Policy

Introduction to Watershed Restoration, Room R-7

12:45 - 2:45 -- Introduction to Watershed Assessment & Watershed Walk (informational)
3:00 - 3:45 -- Designing a Watershed Plan, Shannah Anderson, The Watershed Project (informational and discussion)
4:00 - 5:00 -- History of Creek Restoration and Volunteer Activism in the Bay Area, Josh Bradt, Urban Creeks Council (informational)

Evening Program:

5:00 - 6:30 -- Continuous Registration and Poster Session, Main Hall and Main Lounge
6:30 - 8:00 -- Dinner Buffet, Dining Hall
7:15 - 8:00 -- Keynote Address:  William Jordan, III:  An Instant and Immeasureable Crop:  Stewardship & the Building of a Conservation Economy


Friday, January 14:  Building Collaboration Within the Watershed Community

Morning Program:

8:30 - 9:00 -- Poster Setup and Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall.  Coffee, tea, refreshments, and morning snacks availabe.  Pre-order lunch (from the campus cafeteria) at the registration tables by 11:00.
9:00 - 9:15 -- Welcome, Julie Quiroz-Martinez, Main Lounge
9:15 - 11:45 -- Plenary:  Volunteer Stewardship, Main Lounge.  Includes the keynote addresses and discussion described below.
9:15 - 9:45 -- Keynote Address:  Robin Freeman:  The Empire and the Artisan:  Creeks, Community & Governance, Main Lounge
9:45 - 10:15 -- Keynote Address:  Sharon Farrell:  Social & Ecological Dimensions of Community Stewardship, Main Lounge
10:30 - 11:45 -- Facilitated Discussion:  Volunteer Motivations, Main Lounge
11:45 - 12:30 -- Lunch

Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:

Volunteer Watershed Management & Policy, Main Lounge

12:45 - 2:45 -- After the Restoration:  Maintaining Projects (informational and discussion)
3:00 - 4:15 -- Volunteer Participation:  Citizen Groups & Labor (discussion)

Regulatory Policy, Land Use Planning, Room R-126/R-130

12:45 - 2:00 -- Local and Regional Regulatory Policy, Elizabeth Morrison, RWQCB (informational)
2:15 - 4:15 -- Land Use Planning:  Solutions (informational and discussion)

Organizational Development for Creek Groups (The Watershed Project), Room R-7

12:45 - 2:00 -- Case Studies of 3 Successful Creek Groups (informational)
2:15 - 3:15 -- How to Start & Maintain a Creek Group (informational)
3:30 - 4:15 -- Creating a Funding & Strategic Plan (informational)

Afternoon Plenary:

4:30 - 5:30 -- Facilitated Discussion:  Collaboration and Partnership (discussion), Main Lounge
5:45 - 7:00 -- Poster Session and Hors D'Oeuvres, Main Lounge and Main Hall


Saturday, January 15:  Growing to Scale:  Building a Broader Watershed Community

Morning Program:

8:30 - 9:00 -- Poster Setup and Registration, Main Lounge and Main Hall.  Coffee, tea, refreshments, and morning snacks availabe.  Pre-order lunch (from the campus cafeteria) at the registration tables by 11:00.
9:00 - 9:15 -- Welcome, Julie Quiroz-Martinez, Main Lounge
9:15 - 11:45 -- Plenary:  Building a Broader Watershed Community, Main Lounge.  Includes the keynote addresses and discussion described below.
9:15 - 9:45 -- Keynote Address:  Steven B. Rauh:  Well-Being for Watersheds, Children & Communities:  The Need for Social Impact Statements in Restoring the Global Environment, Main Lounge
9:45 - 10:15 -- Keynote Address:  Sharon Fuller:  Cultural Competency:  Engaging Today's Environmental Leaders, Main Lounge
10:30 - 11:45 -- Facilitated Discussion:  Creating a Long-Term Regional and Local Vision, Main Lounge
11:45 - 12:30 -- Lunch

Afternoon Concurrent Sessions:

Revegetation for Watersheds, Room TBD

12:45 - 2:00 -- Vegetation Management for Habitat & Fire (discussion)
2:15 - 4:15 -- Native Plant Nurseries Roundtable (discussion)

Volunteers & Watershed Science, Room R-7

12:45 - 2:00 -- Monitoring Protocol Goals and Possibilities, Steve Cochrane and others (informational and discussion). 
2:15 - 3:30 -- Sharing and Linking Information Storage Systems (was Collaborative Databases and Volunteer Efforts) (facilitated discussion).  We invite all groups working toward information/data storage systems to participate in this discussion addressing goals, hurdles, and potential partnerships.  If you have a project you would like to include, please contact us at 510-434-3840, or ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net.

Culture and Watershed Education, Room R-130/126

12:45 - 2:00 -- Setting Priorities for Watershed Education (discussion)
2:15 - 3:30 -- Environmental Justice (discussion)

Culture and Watershed Education, Room TBD

12:45 - 2:00 -- The Bay & Beyond:  Urban, Rural & International Partnerships (discussion)
2:15 - 3:30 -- Open Session (discussion)

Culture and Watershed Education, Room TBD

12:45 - 2:00 -- The Spirit of Place, A Geography of Hope (informational and discussion)
2:15 - 3:30 -- History of Ecological Restoration (discussion)

Afternoon Poster Session:

3:00 - 4:00 -- Poster Session, Main Lounge and Main Hall


Sunday, January 16:  Workshop and Field Trips

Workshop:

1:00 - 4:30 -- Workshop:  Shaping an Effective Watershed Council, Sari Sommarstrom, PhD, Watershed Management Council.  Click here for additional information (Word doc).
Location:  Temescal Branch Library 5205 Telegraph Ave., Oakland (near Telegraph Ave. and 51st St. at the Claremont Ave intersection; 10 blocks North of the MacArthur BART station).  The entrance is in the rear of the building.

Field Trips:

10:00 - 12:00 -- Breuner Marsh, Richmond
10:00 - 2:30 -- Nursery Tour, Various East Bay Locations

Speakers

William Jordan III

Founding Editor, Journal of Ecological Restoration; Co-founder of the Society for Ecological Restoration International

Sharon Farrell

Natural Resources Project Manager at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

"I spent a decade as an ecologist and a natural resources planner coordinating community-based stewardship and natural resources programs in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  During that time, I worked with the park and community to create the Presidio Park Stewardship Program, which grew to be the largest natural resource volunteer program in the National Park Service within 5 years.  I have a graduate degree in park management, with an emphasis on community-based stewardship and ecological restoration.  I am the former ED [Executive Director] of the Watershed Project, where I focused on providing capacity building support to watershed groups and delivering watershed-based environmental education programs in the Bay Area."

Sharon Fuller

Founding Director Ma'at Youth Academy, a project of the Earth Island Institute

Steven B. Rauh

Former Editor of the Sierra Club Yodler; former Assistant to David R. Brower, Earth Island Institute; Co-director, ISPS (David R. Brower, Ronald V. Dellums Institute for Sustainable Policy Studies at Merritt College)

Robin Mark Freeman

Chair, Merritt College Environmental Studies Program; Director, East Bay Watershed Center; Co-director, ISPS

For more information, contact the East Bay Watershed Center at ecomerritt@sbcglobal.net or (510) 434-3840.  Schedule last updated January 7, 2005.