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Making Progress Towards a Healthier Willamette

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Making Progress Towards a Healthier Willamette Making progress towards a healthier Willamette. DECEMBER 11-12, 2012 Welcome elcome to Within Our Reach 2012: Making Progress WTowards a Healthier Willamette - two days of learning, sharing, problem-solving and networking focused on Oregon’s ‘big river’ and its tributaries. Much has happened in the two years since the first Within Our Reach conference. Along the mainstem Willamette, new conser- vation easements are in place and large-scale restoration projects have been initiated on both public and private lands. Hundreds of thousands of native trees, shrubs and grasses have been planted in partnership with landowners in tributary watersheds. Portland’s multi-year project to reduce combined sewer overflows into the Willamette, and Talking Water Gardens, the Albany-Millersburg engineered treatment wetland, became operational. Since 2010, the Meyer Memorial Trust, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have invested over $5 million in planning, research, conservation and restoration projects related to the river. At this year’s Within Our Reach we’ll hear more about these and other milestones along the path to improved river health. We’ll also network, share information and solve problems together, as we did in 2010. New this year is the opportunity to hear stories about river restoration from other regions of the U.S. and beyond. We’ll also celebrate recognition of the Willamette River as win- ner of the 2012 Thiess International Riverprize, and learn how this recognition can support continued efforts to secure the future of the river - for farms and communities, for fish and wildlife, and for all Oregonians. PAM WILEY, Willamette River Initiative Director Meyer Memorial Trust / Tides Center Conference Planning Team RICK BASTASCH, City of Portland KEN BIERLY, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board STAN GREGORY, Oregon State University DAVE HULSE, University of Oregon ERIC JONES, Meyer Memorial Trust KENDRA SMITH, Bonneville Environmental Foundation CRISTINA WATSON, Meyer Memorial Trust / Tides Center TRAVIS WILLIAMS, Willamette Riverkeeper Pre-conference Event A presentation exploring the past and future role of film in restoring the Willamette. Featuring ...Historic footage of conditions in Portland Harbor from a 1939 video by the Isaak Walton League ...Excerpts from the rarely-screened film POLLUTION IN PARADISE, a 1962 KGW documentary by Tom McCall that jump-started efforts to clean up the Willamette ...AND a special sneak preview of WILLAMETTE FUTURES, a new documentary by Corvallis filmmaker Jeremy Monroe. Through the voices of community members and beautifully shot underwater and aerial footage, Monroe tells the story of a new era of restoration in the Willamette. Followed by Q&A with the filmmaker Presented by With Conference Snapshot Tuesday, December 11 7:30 am Registration Open / Foyer/ Continental breakfast Ballroom 8:30 am Welcome Ballroom 8:45 am Conference overview Ballroom 9:00 am Plenary: Implementation Ballroom Progress Report 10:00 am Plenary: Science Progress Ballroom Report 10:50 am Plenary: River Café Intro Ballroom 11:00 am Break 11:15 am River Café Break-outs Conference Rooms 12:30 pm Lunch Ballroom 1:30 pm Plenary: Riverprize Ballroom 2:00 pm Plenary: Sector Progress & Ballroom Challenges 2:30 pm Break-outs: Sector Progress Conference & Challenges Rooms 4:00 pm Plenary: Remarks from the Ballroom Governor’s Office (invited) 4:30 pm Project Fair Overview Ballroom 4:45 pm Project Fair / Reception Alumni Center Foyer 6:00 pm Dine-Arounds Corvallis Restaurants Wednesday, December 12 8:00 am Registration / Breakfast Foyer / Ballroom 9:00 am Plenary Keynotes Ballroom 10:30 am Break 10:45 am Plenary: Agency & Tribal Ballroom Updates 12:00 pm Lunch Ballroom 1:00 pm Break-outs: Special Topics Conference Rooms 2:15 pm Break 2:30 pm Plenary: Closing Keynote Ballroom 3:00 pm River Café & Break-out Ballroom Results 3:30 pm Wrap-up / Adjourn Ballroom THANKS TO OUR EVENT PARTNERS: Program Tuesday, December 11 7:30 am REGISTRATION/BREAKFAST 8:30 am WELCOME DOUG STAMM, CEO, Meyer Memorial Trust TOM BYLER, Executive Director, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) 8:45 am CONFERENCE OVERVIEW PAM WILEY, Director, Willamette River Initiative PLENARY | Progress & Challenges Much has happened since Within Our Reach 2010. We begin this year’s conference with a review of recent restoration highlights, followed by two reports from the scientific community reflect- ing an evolving understanding of the Willamette that may challenge our assumptions about the river’s past - and the way we think about its future. 9:00 am Implementation Progress Report Moderator: KEN BIERLY, Senior Partnership Coordinator, OWEB Panelists DAVE HULSE, Philip H. Knight Professor, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, University of Oregon KENDRA SMITH, Willamette Model Watershed Program Director, Bonneville Environmental Foundation DEAN MARRIOTT, Director, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (continued) 10:00 am Science Progress Report Moderator: STAN GREGORY, Professor, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife, Oregon State University Panelists ROSE WALLICK, Hydrologist, US Geological Survey The Once and Future Willamette Floodplain KIRK SCHROEDER, Project Leader, Willamette Spring Chinook Research, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Between the Gravel and the Sea: The Vital Role of the Willamette River for Chinook Salmon 10:50 am PLENARY | RIVER CAFÉ INTRODUCTION Facilitator: STEVE PATTY, Founder and Principal, Dialogues in Action This interactive discussion session is designed to engage conferees in identifying important restora- tion challenges facing the Willamette and suggest- ing actionable solutions to on-going river health issues. 11:00 am BREAK 11:15 am RIVER CAFÉ BREAK-OUTS 12:30 pm LUNCH 1:30 pm PLENARY | 2012 Thiess International Riverprize Special Guests BILL DENNISON, Vice President for Science Applications, University of Maryland Center Program Tuesday, December 11 cont’d for Environmental Science; International RiverFoundation Board of Directors JOHNNY SUNDSTROM, Founder and Director, Siuslaw Institute; International RiverFoundation Ambassador 2:00 pm PLENARY | Introduction to Sector Progress & Challenges TODD REEVE, CEO, Bonneville Environmental Foundation 2:15 pm BREAK 2:30 pm BREAK-OUTS | Sector Progress & Challenges Rm 111 Agriculture Moderator: ALEX STONE, Associate Professor, Dept. of Horticulture, Oregon State University Panelists GARY HORNING, Owner, Deerhaven Farms PETER KENAGY, Owner, Kenagy Family Farms MARK KRAUTMANN, Owner, Heritage Seedlings Rm 114 Aggregate Mining Moderator: TRAVIS WILLIAMS, Executive Director and Riverkeeper, Willamette Riverkeeper Panelists KC KLOSTERMAN, Vice President, Old Castle Materials JOE BERNERT, Wilsonville Concrete (continued) VAUGHN BALZER, Floodplain Mining and Water Quality Reclaimationist, Oregon Dept. of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) ANNE MULLAN, Biologist, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Rm 115A Floods & Flows Moderator: LESLIE BACH, Director of Freshwater Programs for Oregon, The Nature Conservancy Panelists XAN AUGEROT, Executive Director, Marys River Watershed Council GREG TAYLOR, Fisheries Biologist, US Army Corps of Engineers TROY BRANDT, Fisheries Biologist, River Design Group Rm 115B River Cities Moderator: RICK BASTASCH, Program Coordinator, City of Portland Rivers Office Panelists JOANN HERRIGEL, Community Services Director, City of Milwaukie JEFF KRUEGER, Landscape Architect, Lane Council of Governments ED HODNEY, Parks & Recreation Director, City of Albany 4:00 pm PLENARY | Special Guest BRETT BROWNSCOMBE, Natural Resources Policy Advisor, Governor’s Natural Resource Office [invited] Program 4:30 pm PROJECT FAIR & RECEPTION 6:00 pm DINNER | Dine-Arounds Sign up at the registration table to get your name on a group reservation and dine with a small group of conferees at a local restaurant. Wednesday, December 12 8:00 am REGISTRATION / BREAKFAST 9:00 am KEYNOTE PLENARY Introductions: STAN GREGORY, Professor, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife, Oregon State University Speakers CLIFF DAHM, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico; previously Lead Scientist, Delta Science Program (CALFED Bay-Delta Program) Bringing Science into Large Scale River Restoration MICHAEL DOUGLAS, Lead Researcher, Research Institute for the Environment & Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Australia Back to the Future: Can Lessons from Restoring the Willamette Help to Protect the Rivers of Northern Australia? 10:30 am BREAK 10:45 am AGENCY & TRIBAL UPDATES / Q&A Moderator: META LOFTSGAARDEN, Deputy Director, OWEB Panelists ROB WALTON, Fisheries Recovery Coordinator, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (continued) IAN CHANE, Interim Willamette Program Manager, US Army Corps of Engineers LAURA TESLER, Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program Coordinator, Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife KELLY WARREN, Willamette Basin Wildlife Mitigation Coordinator, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs LAWRENCE SCHWABE, Hydro-system Compliance Specialist, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde 12:00 pm LUNCH 1:00 pm BREAK-OUTS Rm 111A WRI Evaluation Workshop Since launching the Willamette River Initiative, the Meyer Memorial Trust has awarded nearly $6 mil- lion to support Willamette restoration efforts. Now, almost halfway through the ten-year program, it’s time to take a formal look at how things are going. John Sherman from Partners for Change will lead a workshop aimed at framing the right evaluation
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