CALL FOR PROGRAM PROPOSALS – RAE CONFERENCE  

Restore America*s Estuaries is pleased to announce the Call for Dedicated Sessions, Presentations and Posters for the 4th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration - Creating Solutions through Collaborative Partnerships.  The Conference will be held October 11-15, 2008 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI.

Proposals are due January 31, 2008.

The Conference will bring timely national attention to the challenges to and opportunities for comprehensive coastal ecosystem restoration. Healthy coasts and estuaries are essential to the very fabric of our lives - the social, economic and ecological well being of humans in the coastal landscape. And successful habitat restoration at all scales is critical to achieving this.

The 4th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration will advance the science, pace, practice, and success of habitat restoration at all scales. This is the only national conference that brings together the entire coastal and estuarine habitat restoration community. It provides a unique blend of people and policy, science and strategy, business and best practices.

The National Program Committee invites you to submit a proposal to present at the 4th National Conference. The program emphasizes best practices and lessons learned in all aspects of coastal and estuarine habitat restoration. There are three opportunities to present:

Dedicated Sessions - Potential session chairs may propose three or four presenters in a 90 minute session. Dedicated Sessions must include multiple perspectives and we strongly encourage that they address multiple aspects of restoration within the chosen topic. Submissions must be made by the proposed session chair, and should identify all proposed presenters. The session chair may propose himself/herself as one of the presenters in the session.

Presentations - Please propose one 15-20 minute presentation within one or more of the Conference themes and topics. The National Program Committee will organize selected presentations into cohesive 90 minute Contributed Sessions and assign session moderators. If you would like to propose more than one presentation, you must submit each proposal separately.

Posters Sessions - Posters will be displayed throughout the Conference, and one special 90-minute poster session (on Tuesday, October 14th) will allow Poster Presenters to discuss their work with Conference participants. A Student Poster Contest offers cash awards to the best student posters. For more contest information, please visit the Conference website.

For more information on the conference or to submit a proposal, visit www.estuaries.org/conference

  CONGRESS OVERIDES PRESIDENTIAL VETO   

For the first time during his tenure, Congress has reversed a Presidential veto.  Following a veto last week by President Bush, the Water Resources Development Act passed the House on Tuesday and the Senate this afternoon with veto-proof margins.  The Water Resources Development Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out hundreds of hurricane protection, flood control, ecosystem restoration and navigation projects. The legislation also authorizes key Great Lakes programs including an electric barrier to keep the non-native Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, reeking havoc for boaters and anglers, and threatening the region's $4.5 billion fishery. 

This bill authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a dispersal barrier system on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.  The electric barrier on the canal is designed to repel the carp back from entering Lake Michigan.  The completion and long-term operation of the barrier system by the federal government is vital if we are to be successful in keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

In addition to the Asian carp barrier, the comprehensive water projects bill authorizes Great Lakes programs that support:

• Restoration of habitat and fishery through the Great Lakes Fishery & Ecosystem Restoration Act
• Clean-up of toxic harbors through the Great Lakes Remedial Action Plans;
• Reduction of soil erosion and non-point source pollution through the Great Lakes Tributary Model Program; and,
• Removal of dams to restore habitat through the Aquatic Ecosystem and Estuary Restoration Program.

We applaud Congress for overriding the veto and recognizing the importance of authorizing programs that are essential to restoring the Great Lakes and protecting our economy and way of life. Taking action now is essential. The longer we wait, the worse the problems become – along with those problems come more costly solutions.

           STATE SENATE ‘PROTECTION’ PLAN WOULD DRAIN MICHIGAN’S RIVERS   

A proposed Great Lakes protection package being considered in the State Senate would allow large water users to drain huge percentages of some of Michigan’s finest rivers and streams, according to an analysis by the Great Lakes, Great Michigan coalition.

“The Senate bills would rely heavily on a newly developed water withdrawal assessment tool, discounting input from local communities and other sources, including experts in the field,” said James Clift of the Michigan Environmental Council. Clift was part of an advisory council that worked for 18 months to develop the assessment tool.  Meanwhile, a contrasting package of Great Lakes protection bills in the State House provides multiple safeguards for Michigan’s waters that reach beyond the assessment tool to apply reasonable use determinations and review of resource harm. Both packages include approval of the Great Lakes Compact, an eight-state agreement banning major diversions from the lakes.

The Au Sable River, one of America’s best trout streams, could see allowable reductions in stream flow of 22 percent in some stretches under the assessment tool. “That’s outrageous,” said Rusty Gates, owner of Gates Au Sable Lodge near Grayling and president of Anglers of the Au Sable. “There’s no way you can take that much water out of a stream and not destroy it. I’m sure there are plenty of people and corporations who’d like to get their hands on the Au Sable’s spring-fed water, but the State Legislature shouldn’t be helping them do it.”

Stretches of other streams could see flow reductions in excess of 40 percent.  "The Senate version of this legislation appears to recognize the value of thriving fish species in our coldwater streams, but relies heavily on the predictions of a newly created and imperfect modeling tool which, for example, would allow approximately a quarter to a third of the summer low flow of a trout stream to be withdrawn,” said Dr. Bryan Burroughs, executive director of the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited. “Certainly this falls short of the intended spirit of the legislation, which is supposed to assure that future water withdrawals do not have an adverse impact on our natural resources.  We expect that these shortfalls will be addressed if the bills are to receive widespread support."

The Senate Legislation, relying on the assessment tool, would allow stream flow reductions of the following percentage in certain stretches of these rivers and streams:

• 42 percent, Betsie River
• 22 percent, Pere Marquette River
• 25 percent, Sturgeon River
• 22 and 16 percent, Au Sable River
• 22 percent, Manistee River
• 25 percent, Boardman River
• 16 percent, Pigeon River
• 25 percent, Jordan River

“The numbers prove that the assessment tool should be used exactly for what it was intended – as a tool, not the sole means of determining whether water users can responsibly pump huge quantities of water from the ground,” said Clift. “Balanced legislation, like that proposed under the House plan, puts multiple safeguards in place for Michigan’s water.”

For more information, visit the Great Lakes, Great Michigan website at www.greatlakesgreatmichigan.org