• Announcements and Events Archive
• Working with us
  •    Employment Opportunities
  •    Internship
• Newsletter
  • Past Issues
    
    September 2011
    June 2011
• Manage Subscriptions

ECR2010 NATIONAL CONFERENCE: REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Registration is now open for the sixth national ECR Conference, "ECR2010: Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution - Evolving to Meet New Opportunities". This national conference will be held on May 25-27, 2010, at Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Arizona.

The conference program will include plenary discussions, pre-conference trainings, ECR technology exhibits, panel and roundtable sessions, open space discussion forums, post-conference field trips, and other events including the Association for Conflict Resolution, Environmental and Public Policy Section mid-year meeting.

The ECR2010 program will be organized around three tracks:

Policy Challenges of the Next Decade and the Role of ECR
Engaging Federal-Tribal-State-Local Governments
New Tools & Technology and their Application to the Field of ECR

Subject areas will include energy, climate change, water and river basin management, national forest and park management, as well as cross-cutting topics areas including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Negotiated Rulemaking Act, and much more.

An ECR Technology Fair will be held in conjunction with the conference opening reception. The Technology Fair will consist of a series of concurrent 20-minute demonstrations and interactive presentations showcasing the most innovative applications of technology within ECR processes. There will be an opportunity for networking and discussion between and after exhibitor presentations. The Technology Fair will also be an opportunity to learn more about the ECR technology-enhanced projects nominated for the U.S. Institute’s first Technology and ECR Award.

Former EPA Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus will engage senior government officials in an opening plenary discussion on national environmental challenges, 40 years of NEPA, and ECR opportunities. Terry Bracy, Udall Foundation Board of Trustees Chair, will moderate a morning plenary on the second day of the conference. This discussion among senior federal, tribal, state and local officials will focus on past successes and future directions in working across government to prevent and resolve environmental conflicts.

More than 30 panel and roundtable sessions will include moderators and presenters from multiple federal departments and agencies (including the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the General Services Administration), as well as representatives from state, tribal and local governments, ECR practitioners, environmental advocates, NGO's, community-based groups, science and technical experts, academics and others.

Open forum sessions will provide opportunities for spontaneous discussion and networking. A sign-up sheet will be posted at the conference registration desk and any agency, organization or individual participant at the conference can convene an open forum discussion. Meeting rooms will be allocated to sessions attracting the greatest number of participants. Smaller groups will be free to informally convene at various locations around the conference hotel.

Other events dovetailed with ECR2010 include the Association for Conflict Resolution, Environment and Public Policy Section mid-year meeting, an EPA employee ADR meeting, an evening reception for members of the National Roster of ECR Practitioners and members of the Native Dispute Resolution Network, and a Technology and ECR Steering Committee meeting.

The ECR 2010 conference program was developed by a conference steering committee and tack subcommittees. Sincere thanks are due to the 28 committee members for their guidance creating this exciting conference program.

Special thanks are also due to ECR2010 sponsors for their help making this conference possible. They include the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.D.A Forest Service, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona.

For more information on about ECR2010, including pre-conference events beginning on May 24th and field trips on May 28th visit www.ecr.gov or email ECR2010@ecr.gov.