Region 8 ROC News/Updates
Last update: Friday March 30, 2007 08:32 AM -0700

News

• National Tribal Science Conference: September 24-27, 2006 hosted by the Quinalt Indian Nation at the Quinalt Beach Resort and Casino in Ocean Shores, Washington
   
• FREE EPA webcast seminars
   

  Date	Title	Description
  May 17, 2006	Integrating Wetlands in Watershed Protection Efforts conducted by Tom Schueler, Center for Watershed Protection (in celebration of American Wetlands Month)	Find out how local communities can integrated wetlands into larger watershed protection efforts and learn about new tools to help protect these valuable aquatic resources
  June 28, 2006	Influencing Behaviors Using Social Marketing conducted by Charlie MacPherson, Tetra Tech, Inc. and Chris Conner, EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program	Learn how social marketing techniques can be applies in your watershed to influence behaviors and build environmental stewardship

Registration is available online at www.clu-in.org/live on a first-come/first-served basis and opens approximately one week prior to each seminar. Each webcast includes a web-based slide presentation with a companion audio portion that can be accessed either by phone or by streaming audio. Because of the growing popularity of these webcasts, reserving a conference room and inviting other is encouraged. Audio versions of all past webcasts can be accessed at www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts.

In addition to webcasts, the Watershed Academy sponsors live classroom training and online distance learning modules through the Watershed Academy website at: www.epa.gov/watertrain. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy.

• National EPA Strategic Plan Architecture 2006-11 online (submit comments by March 31, 2006): www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/06draftarch.html
• EPA news release: Menards faces EPA administrative order for damaging South Dakota stream
• Compendium of Regional Guidance for Fiscal Year 2006 (October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006)

Meetings/Conference Announcements

• Federal response efforts in recent hurricane relief
• EPA Good Samaritan Initiative launched August 20, 2005, to foster greater collaboration to accelerate restoration of watersheds and fisheries threatened by abandoned mine runoff.
• Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Design Workbooks are available from the Rocky Mountain Watershed Network by contacting Barb Horn at 970-382-6667, , or online at www.rmwn.org.
• Sustainability Practices newsletter is a weekly one-page electronic newsletter on sustainability. Each weekly issue features a brief paragraph on breakthrough innovations, technologies and products offering sustainable solutions to ecological, social, and economic challenges. To receive the newsletter directly, contact David Schaller at . Newsletter can also be accessed on the Federal Network for Sustainability website at: www.federalsustainability.org.
• The EPA Administrator combined the Office of Environmental Education with the Office of Children's Health Protection to create a new Office of Environmental Education and Children's Health Protection. For more information, go to the website at: www.epa.gov/region08/env_ed or contact Christine Vigil of the Regional Environmental Education Office at 303-312-6605 or .
• The process of developing regionalized versions of the wetland delineation manual is online at: www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/cecwo/reg. For more information, contact Dave Ruite at 303-312-6794 or .
• New EPA Watershed Funding website with links to tools, databases and resources about grants, funding, and fundraising is online at: www.epa.gov/owow/funding.html.
• USGS Groundwater Report on Estimated Withdrawals from Principal Aquifers in the United States 2000 is available online at: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubs/cir/cir1279.
• The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) is a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff.
• EPA online watershed discussion forum offers watershed protection practitioners and citizens a platform to exchange ideas for innovative solutions and ideas to be shared in real time. The forum includes the following categories--community involvement, smart growth/low impact development, source water protection, stormwater best management practices, sustainable financing, and watershed planning tools.
• EPA Watershed Academy Webcasts are online here. Other webcasts available online:  July 20 webcast on conducting effective watershed outreach campaigns and July 22 webcast on Eight Tools of Protection for Developing Areas featuring Tom Scheuler with the Center for Watershed Protection.
• U.S. National Academies Water Information Center online at: http://water.nationalacademies.org.
• Online Tools for Municipal Officials for Protecting Drinking Water Sources in Your Community from the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission covers common causes of water pollution such as stormwater management, underground storage tanks, and hazardous materials use and disposal.
• National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue data CDs from the third and fourth years of the study can be ordered by contacting Leanne Stahl, National Lake Fish Tissue Study Manager at 202-566-0404 or .
• The Colorado Materials Exchange is sponsored by the University of Colorado Recycling Services as a statewide clearinghouse of non-hazardous surplus and durable goods. Private and public sector groups, as well as citizen and non-profit organizations are encouraged to take advantage of the Colorado Materials Exchange as a means of finding low or no-cost materials and minimizing waste.
• Green Hotels Association: learn about "green" hotels and "green" travel
• The EPA Region 8 Ecosystem Stewardship Team is online at: www.epa.gov/region08/community_resources/steward/est.html.