In response to discussions with many of our stakeholders, the Watershed Council has redesigned its stakeholder meetings that will allow us to achieve our mission.
We are hosting four watershed symposia annually, each with a moderated discussion by a panel of experts, followed by a discussion with the audience. Each symposium topic will be featured in a more extended discussion in the following issue of WatershedWise. Locations to be announced.
September 2008
Building a Healthier
San Gabriel River
Watershed
This conference will bring
together researchers, policy
makers, decision makers and
interested stakeholders to
rediscover the common
threads in the various efforts
underway in the San Gabriel
River watershed. Attendees
will leave the conference with
a renewed sense of the
interconnectedness of
watershed health, and
perhaps new ideas for
collaborative work with other
disciplines to improve the
health of our watershed.
Moderator:
TBA
Speakers: TBA
May 21st, 2008
How Do We Keep It Flowing?
Funding for the Maintenance
of Stormwater Projects
Typically, available bond
funding for stormwater BMP
projects only cover project
design and build costs and
maybe one or two years of
maintenance. There is rarely
funding available for long-
term maintenance costs. Our
symposium speakers will
discuss plans and proposals
for upcoming projects and
offer solutions to short and
long term maintenance
challenges in Los Angeles
County. The workshop will
also address the need for a
more comprehensive set of
maintenance guidelines to
be used by those responsible
for the care of stormwater
projects.
Moderator:
Michael Drennan Weston Solutions, Inc.
Speakers: Neal Shapiro City of Santa Monica (Presentation-PDF, 4.5Mb)
Joe Edmiston Santa Monica Mountains
Conservancy
Shahram Kharaghani City of Los Angeles Bureau of
Sanitation
(Presentation-PDF, 2Mb)
Hector Bordas Los Angeles County Dept of
Public Works
(Presentation-PDF, 1.2Mb)
The Fires This Time, Part II:
Brush Clearance, Fuel
Reduction and Fire Safe
Landscaping
The symposium will review the
guidelines followed by the LA
County Fire Department and
Agricultural Commissioner’s
Office and will also highlight
the progress made towards
more responsible guidelines
on the part of California’s Fire
Insurance industry. The
workshop will address the
need for collaboration among
the agencies with the aim of
working towards a more
cohesive set of brush
clearance protocols for
residents and land owners in
the wildland-urban interface.
Moderator:
Mike Rogers Angeles National Forest
(Retired)
Speakers: Sabrina Drill University of California
Cooperative Extension and
SAFE Landscapes Project
(Presentation-PDF, 235Kb)
Keith Condon LA County Fire Department,
Fuel Modification Unit
(Presentation-PDF, 7.5Mb)
J. Lopez LA County Fire Department,
Forestry Division
(Presentation-PDF, 876Kb)
(Presentation-PDF, 5Mb)
Dan Papilli LA County Agricultural
Commissioner’s Office
(Presentation-PDF, 1.3Mb)
Mike Harris California FAIR Plan (Presentation-PDF, 92Kb)
Electrical
Transmission
Corridors: Renewable Energy
and Secondary Uses
The goal of the forum is to
stimulate discussion and
clarification by utilities,
landowners, policy-makers,
and others who have a stake
in the process of connecting
renewable power sources into
the existing transmission
system and secondary uses
of the corridors.
The symposium will address
the history of secondary uses
and what policies are
currently driving the practices
of utility companies for
approval of secondary uses.
Speakers:
Tim Worley Metropolitan Water District
(Presentation-PDF, 2Mb)
Following the fires at Griffith
Park and Catalina Island in
May, there are large scale
multi-agency recovery
planning efforts underway.
These plans will address the
need to protect threatened
properties, lives and natural
resources.
This symposium will provide a
venue for the exchange of
information on postfire
recovery best practices. Co-
sponsored by the Watershed
Council and the City of Los
Angeles Recreation and Parks
Department. RSVP is
mandatory for lunch and a tour
of the Griffith Park burn area
following the meeting.
Speakers:
Jon Keeley U.S. Geological Survey
(Presentation-PDF, 6Mb)
Sustainable Cities: What Will
It Take To Reach The Prize?
Following on the heels of the
February national conference,
6th Annual New Partners for
Smart Growth: Building Safe,
Healthy and Livable
Communities, we will
assemble a panel of local
experts to talk about issues
such as: How do we get cities
to adopt and enforce the
needed ordinances? What
incentives are needed? Can an
existing city be truly
sustainable or do we have to
start from scratch? What is
urban open space? How does
more build-out affect open
space?
Speakers: Claire Bowin City of Los Angeles,
Department of Planning (Presentation-PDF, 4Mb)
Rick Cole
City Manager, City of Ventura
(former Mayor of Pasadena)
Joone Lopez
Deputy General Manager,
Central Basin Municipal
Water District
(Presentation-PDF, 1Mb)
Susan Longville
Director, Water Resources
Institute, CSU San Bernardino (Presentation-PDF, 2Mb)
Alice Sterling
Senior Project Manager for
Green Building, City of
Pasadena (Presentation-PPS, 9Mb)
There is a growing feeling that
we can achieve multiple
benefits by using the existing
flood control channels to
reimagine the rivers into
something better. Questions
include: how do we make the
best use of the existing Right
of Ways to maximize benefits?
How do we develop and
implement the long term vision
of integrated watershed
management? How does
watershed planning fit in with
traditional planning
departments?
Speakers:
Robert Garcia The City Project
(Presentation-PDF, 3Mb)
Carol Armstrong City of Los Angeles, Project
Manager, Los Angeles River
Revitalization Master Plan
(Presentation-PDF, 16Mb)
Tim Brick Arroyo Seco Foundation
Jessica Hall Ballona Creek Watershed
Coordinator
(Presentation-PDF, 3Mb)
Arthur Golding Arthur Golding & Associates
(Presentation-PDF, 3Mb)
Paul McCarthy County of Los Angeles Regional
Planning
Speakers will discuss the art
and science of valuation and
the thorny issue of ranking
projects. How do you attach a
value to multiple benefit
projects? Once you’ve
developed a numerical value,
do you then use that value to
prioritize projects for funding?
How does uncertainty in the
valued project benefits play
into informed decision-
making? Does an allocation of
multiple benefits imply a
disproportionate allocation of
cost-responsibility? How can
different institutional
beneficiaries of watershed
projects with diffuse benefits
be drawn into the
implementation process? Is
attaching a numerical value to
benefits the best way to go?
Speakers:
Terri M. Grant
Asst. Division Head, Watershed
Management Division, LACDPW (Presentation-PDF)
Alan Levenson The Natelson Dale Group, Inc.
Tom Chesnutt
President, A&N Technical
Services (Presentation-PDF)
Dr. Travis Longcore
Res Asst. Prof, Geography, USC
Center for Sustainable Cities
