You are invited to participate in a Stakeholder/Partner Workshop for The Nature Conservancy’s West Virginia Watershed Association Pilot Project.  This is the final of three workshops to design the methodology and final products of our watershed assessment project.  The purpose of this workshop is to present the results of the first two Watershed Assessments, introduce our proposed end-user products, and request feedback on the structure and methodology of the products, which will include both a report on each watershed and an interactive web mapping application.

Two workshops will be held, your participation is requested for one of these:

-          Tuesday, April 3^rd, 2012, 3pm – 5pm.  Focus: Monongahela River watershed.  Location: Lakeview Resort, 1 Lakeview Drive, Morgantown, WV.

Directions: Located off Exit 10 of Interstate 68, 10 miles east of Interstate 79 on scenic Cheat Lake in Morgantown.  http://www.lakeviewresort.com/

-          Thursday, April 5^th, 2012, 3 pm – 5pm.  Focus: Elk River watershed.  Location: Steptoe & Johnson Office, 707 Virginia St. E., Suite 715, Charleston, WV. 

Directions are included in the pdf file attached to this email.

Some background about this project:

The Nature Conservancy, in cooperation with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, is working on a Watershed Assessment Pilot Project in WV, funded by the US EPA.  This is a two- year project conducted in five watersheds.  During the first year we are working on the Elk and Monongahela watersheds, and during the second year we will work on the Gauley, Little Kanawha, and Upper Guyandotte. The goals of the project are to:

1)            Design and test a process that assesses the condition of aquatic resources and the impacts to those resources within a watershed, including an assessment of cumulative impacts and integration of information with multiple sources within and outside of government agencies.

2)            Provide relevant data, strategies/actions, and a decision support tool to assist partners, stakeholders and regulatory staff with decisions affecting aquatic resources.

3)            Establish priorities for protection and restoration of aquatic resources, with the goal of a net increase in functional wetland acres and riparian areas in the watershed.

4)            Develop common and consistent strategies for various government agencies and non-governmental organizations to partner and utilize various protection and restoration tools to achieve goals established for the watershed.

I sincerely hope that you or somebody from your organization will agree to participate.  Your guidance and input will help make the objectives of the Watershed Assessment Pilot Project achievable outcomes.  For those willing to participate, but unable to attend the workshop, we can make arrangements to talk with you one on one or you can submit written comments.  If somebody else from your organization would be more appropriate to attend, please let me know and I will extend the invitation to them. 

Please let me know by Tuesday, March 27^th, if you will be able to attend either of the two workshops.  You can contact me by email or phone (listed below) if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Ruth

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