EDUCATION INSPIRATION CELEBRATION MAY 20-23 2016 MOBILE, AL AGENDA FRIDAY, MAY 20TH 8:00am - 5:00pm Urban Waters Learning Network Meeting Mobile Bay Ballroom 11:00am - 5:00pm Alabama Water Rally and Earth Honoring Ceremony Bon Secour Bay 2&3 5:30pm - 8:00pm River Rally 2016 Welcoming Reception Fathoms Streetside Lounge 8:00pm - 12:00am Hospitality Suite Jubilee Suite SATURDAY, MAY 21ST 6:30am 5K “Migratory Fish” Run/Walk Meet in lobby 7:30am - 9:30am Breakfast and Plenary Panel Bon Secour Bay 10:00am - 11:30am Workshops Various 11:30am - 1:30pm Lunch and Plenary Speaker Bon Secour Bay 2:00pm - 3:30pm Workshops Various 4:00pm - 5:30pm Workshops Various 6:00pm Networking Dinner/Dinner On-Your-Own Off-site 8:30pm - 10:30pm Movie Night Mobile Bay Ballroom 10:30pm - 12:00am Hospitality Suite Jubilee Suite SUNDAY, MAY 22ND 7:00am Yoga in the Park Cooper Riverside Park 7:30am - 9:30am Breakfast and Table Meetings Bon Secour Bay 9:30am - 11:00am Workshops Various 11:00am - 6:00pm Boxed Lunch Pick-Up and Field Trips Preconvene 2 Center and Off-site 6:00pm Dinner On-Your-Own Off-site 8:30pm - 10:30pm Open Mic and Talent Show Bon Secour Bay 10:30pm - 12:00am Hospitality Suite Jubilee Suite MONDAY, MAY 23RD 7:30am - 9:30am Breakfast and Plenary Panel Bon Secour Bay 10:00am - 11:30am Workshops Various 11:30am - 1:30pm Lunch and Plenary Panel Bon Secour Bay 2:00pm - 3:30pm Workshops Various 4:00pm - 5:30pm Workshops Various 5:30pm - 6:30pm Reception Jubilee Suite 6:30pm - 8:30pm River Heroes Award Banquet Bon Secour Bay 8:30pm - ... Live Music and Celebration! Bon Secour Bay TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! Please let us know how we did this year! Take our online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RiverRally2016 2 River Network River Rally 2016 Cover photo sources: Mobile Baykeeper, Shutterstock.com WELCOME TO RIVER RALLY 2016! We are excited to have the opportunity to spend this year’s River Rally with you in beautiful Mobile, Alabama! Every year, we work hard to put together a program that delivers rich content, engaging speakers, and great field trips in an open and supportive atmosphere conducive to connecting with old colleagues and making new friends. This year’s program is particularly special. We begin on Friday with an Earth honoring ceremony and welcoming reception and close with the annual River Heroes Banquet and live music on Monday night. In between, you’ll be kept busy with over 80 learning opportunities including plenary panels and speakers that will challenge your thinking, field trips to experience the unexpected at local rivers and swamps, movies that take you on a journey, and even a fun run in honor of World Fish Migration Day. For those of you who don’t know much about Mobile, or wonder why River Rally would be in such a hard place to get to, keep in mind that the Mobile River Basin, and Alabama generally, is a global hotspot for freshwater biodiversity. There is no other NICOLE SILK place with as many species of freshwater fish, mussels, snails, turtles and crawfish. It is our Amazon. To have the opportunity to explore this place first-hand is the chance of a lifetime. And of course, this is also a place deeply threatened by complacency, habitat destruction, lax enforcement of environmental regulations, and extreme issues of social injustice. We can’t imagine a better location to dig deep into the themes of this year’s conference: science for advocates, ample water solutions and innovations, strong leaders/strong organizations, clean water solutions and innovations, and diversity and our future. We hope you agree. For those of you who have been to River Rally before, welcome back! For those of you who have never attended a River Rally, welcome aboard. This is THE place to connect with people from across the country (and around the world) who care about rivers: conservationists, advocates, scientists, lawyers, philanthropists and fundraisers, business leaders, volunteers, and concerned citizens. Enjoy! Rally Ho! Nicole Silk President , River Network River Network River Rally 2016 3 ACTIVITIES Okay, you don’t have to dress up like a fish, but wouldn’t it be FRIDAY, MAY 20 funny if you did? Runners and walkers of all migration speeds are welcome. If you’re near your computer or phone, you can check out the route ahead of time: http://www.mappedometer. EARTH HONORING CEREMONY com/?maproute=492902. Meet in the hotel lobby at 6:15am for 4:00PM-5:00PM - COOPER RIVERSIDE PARK a 6:30am departure time on Saturday morning. We’ll reward All River Rally attendees are invited to participate in a special you with breakfast and coffee afterwards! Earth Honoring Ceremony facilitated by the Center for Earth Ethics. The prayer will take place outdoors in Cooper NETWORKING DINNErs Riverside Park, adjacent to the hotel on Friday afternoon. MEET AT 5:45PM - HOTEL LOBBY The ceremony will focus on 1) the healing of Mother Earth, New this year! If you signed up for a themed networking 2) the honoring of the Original Peoples of the Alabama dinner when you registered for the conference, meet us in the area, and 3) asking for a blessing on the conference in the lobby at 5:45pm to walk to a nearby restaurant where we’ve following days so that it can serve all our relationships. made reservations for you. We’ll start walking at 6pm! If you didn’t get the chance to sign up for an organized WElcomING RECEPTION dinner, it doesn’t mean you don’t get to network or eat. 5:30PM-8:00PM - FATHOMS STREETSIDE LOUNGE Grab some new friends and head out to one of the many Friday night is the official kick-off for River Rally 2016! Join restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. us at the hotel’s Fathoms Streetside Lounge to connect with old friends and make some new ones. We’ll have some locals introduce us to Mobile and hear a little bit about what to WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING expect over the course of the event. Heavy hors d’oeuvres featuring selections from SELC’s Southern will be served. Exposure Film Series 8:30PM-10:30PM - MOBILE BAY BALLROOM After dinner, join us back at the hotel for an evening screening of carefully crafted documentaries that shine light SATURDAY, MAY 21 on the need to protect natural landscapes and resources, improve human health, and achieve environmental justice. There will also be a raffle - so stick around for prizes! 5K “MIGRATORY FISH” FUN RUN/WALK MEET AT 6:15AM - HOTEL LOBBY The films in this year’s line-up highlight a number of Saturday, May 21, 2016 is World Fish Migration Day! Did we pertinent water issues in the Southeast and across the plan Rally around it, you ask? No, it’s a coincidence - but country. Prepare to get inspired, motivated, and moved... a great one that we want to celebrate! Dress up like your we’ll provide the Kleenex! favorite fish and join us for a 5K mini-migration through downtown Mobile. 4 River Network River Rally 2016 LIST OF 2016 FILMS: MONDAY, MAY 23 - THE AccIDENTAL ENVIRONMENTALIST - A DAM PROBLEM ANNUAL RIVER HEROES BANQUET & CELEBRATION - DIVErsITY & InclusION IN OUR WILD SPACES WITH LIVE musIC FROM FAT MAN SQUEEZE - BON - THE STORM DOWNSTREAM SEcour BAY - MOTHER OF ALL RIVErs Each year, on the final evening of River Rally, we honor the - FLINT heroes among us. Don’t miss this special celebration of the - BRINGING BACK THE Brooks 2016 River Heroes and Compton Award Winner. The banquet - PADDLE for THE NORTH will be followed by live music from Alabaman bluegrass band, Fat Man Squeeze. SUNDAY, MAY 22 MORNING YOGA IN THE PARK MEET AT 6:45AM - HOTEL lobbY After a full day of workshops and learning on Saturday, join us on Sunday morning for some zen time in preparation for another jam-packed day of Rally fun. Meet in the hotel lobby at 6:45am to walk over to Cooper Riverside Park, adjacent to the hotel, for an outdoor yoga session. A limited amount of mats will be available for your use. Ommmm. BREAKFAST TABLES 7:30AM-9:00AM BON SEcour BAY Got an itch to keep up some of the great conversations you’re having? Sunday morning we’ll continue the networking for Hailing from Lower Alabama, Fat Man Squeeze has been the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed among you. Find a breakfast wowing audiences with super-picking speed grass since early table labeled with a topic of interest to you and get to 2003. The popularity of their live shows and crowd reception chatting with others doing similar work or who have similar of the band’s original music prompted the boys to record interests. To form a new group, grab some paper from Q&A their first album January, 2004. Recorded at the Ninth Ward and make your own table sign! Picking Parlor in New Orleans, LA, the album was engineered and produced by roots super talent Mike West. The second release (Bluegrass Trash, 2007) is also well received as it tried FIELD TRIps to capture the energy of the band. All the members of the band 12:00PM-6:00PM - HOTEL LOBBY are mutli-instrumentalists, and Andy MacDonald is highly On Sunday afternoon, we’ll put away our pens and papers, sought after music instructor as well. The energy of Fat Man laptops and phones, and head out to explore our beautiful Squeeze, is sure to make you a fan of their antics and talent.