Managing Rivers in Changing Climes: Training Tomorrow's River Professionals
April 15-17, 2014 - Denver, Colorado

Trainings, Workshops, Papers and Posters

Registration information will be available Wednesday, December 18, 2013!

The River Management Society invites you to participate in Managing Rivers in Changing Climes as a presenter, session organizer, and poster session participant or workshop coordinator.

2014 Managing Rivers in Changing Climes will provide training and education opportunities from topic experts and experienced field professionals that will equip river professionals with tools they can use and resources they can tap when they return home. The topics and content will be familiar to seasoned attendees, yet the depth and practical, skills-based orientation will offer a fresh focus this signature event.

Submit your proposal abstract(s) by clicking the Managing Rivers in Changing Climes Abstract Submission Form. We are seeking proposals that fit within one or more of the four program themes highlighted below:

River Planning and Management

Funding and sustaining multi-jurisdictional projects
Infrastructure: launches (put-ins/take-outs),
campgrounds, access for the disabled / aging
Urban river development
Visitor use and capacity
Balancing complex user demands-agriculture, utility, recreation
Whitewater park management vs. river management
Whitewater parks: writing RFQs vs. RFPs
Developing collaboratives between federal, state, local and NGOs
Tools to mitigate effects of conflict
River databases - integration into National Rivers Database

Legislative-Legal

[Continuing Legal Education, Inc. will offer a one day training for CLE credits April 14, 2014 that will complement these sessions]
State-based water law, water rights
Federal water law, water rights
Effects of federal designations (WSR, water trails, blueways)
Navigability: Implications for recreation, including state recreational use statutes
Hydropower licensing overview - An assist for hydro assessments
FERC Form 80

Environmental

Invasive riparian and aquatic species management training
Invasive/nuisance species public outreach, fees
Tools for identifying and acting on water quality issues
Dams - managing removal, sediment
Dam removal mitigation credits - how to secure and implement
Tools for snow-making and other effects of climate change

Wild and Scenic Rivers

Section 7 Overview
Designation process
Section 7 Assessments
Managing Wild and Scenic Rivers
Wild and Scenic River Capacity
Outstandingly Remarkable Values Assessments

Funding Rivers

Grant administration for Department of Transportation, EPA,other federal sources
User fees and permits - economics and administration
Sources of funding and success securing funds

Professional Development

Engaging youth, mentoring and internships
Partnerships that pay: Conservation Corps, Student Conservation Association Programs
Navigation of bureaucratic forms and processes
River management certificate, an interscholastic collaboration
Writing skills for NEPA and other assessments
GIS application for databases, interactive maps
GPS skill building for field personnel
Wilderness First Responder, swift water rescue, boat/water based skills update

We’d like each speaker to include a discussion of the two issues below into their presentation: your presentation does not have to address them but if they are relevant, please do so:

Funding - How was your project funded?
Engaging the next generation of river managers: How are you engaging emerging professionals into your program?

Poster Session/Contest

This is an opportunity to promote your organization and to better educate individuals about initiatives taken to promote one or more of the four themes identified above. Individuals may enter a poster in one or more of the theme categories. Symposium participants will have an opportunity to cast votes to determine awards that will be given to winners in each category. Poster guidelines are available on line at http://www.river-management.org/

Continuing Legal Education Program

On Monday, April 14, 2014 a program will be held in partnership with Continuing Legal Education International, during which the following topics will be addressed. These qualify for continuing legal education credits. River managers are encouraged to attend. If you have a topic that relates to these, please submit an abstract.

1.     Recreational use statutes; liability for injuries suffered on rivers and river banks; signage-related liability issues
2.     Launch sites: Signage; Americans for Disabilities Act requirements, funding, and exemptions
3.     Army Corps of Engineers - Section 404 permits
4.     Access to rivers - Federal navigability laws, user conflicts resulting from increased public access, and unauthorized
  use (NO TRESPASS) signs
5.     Recreational Instream Channel Diversions (RICDs), Diversions for recreation
6.     Wetlands rules, mitigation banking
7.     User conflicts - when you need a lawyer, and how to avoid them
8. How to write and interpret laws, how to write good legislation - a legal resource tool kit - Example - Maryland’s bill
proposal to allow access to rivers along bridge right-of-ways.

Professional continuing education credits in other disciplines may be available, as well.

Plenary Sessions

This is a list of four topics for plenary session panels. All participants are encouraged to attend plenary sessions. Plenaries will take place first thing in the morning and each afternoon, followed by presentations on related topics. We encourage you address these topics in your presentations, and if you’d like to participate on a plenary session panel, please let us know.

1. The business of running a river: Who is responsible for both managing and funding the management of our rivers? How much does it cost to manage a river? How
should we approach overcrowding and new use conflicts in the face of staff cutbacks? Do user fees cover costs? Who should?

2. Retired baby boomers to help work on rivers - River Management Society members are the most informed powerful river proponents the country has ever had.
Mentoring opportunities abound, but the ‘shelf life’ of retirees can be short if individuals are not sought, trained, engaged and rewarded for their volunteerism. How do we bring retirees back into the river management fold to create gratifying experiences for them, role models for rising stars, and a brighter future for our rivers?

3. Internships, mentoring, engaging youth. The 'greatest generation' of river managers is retiring. How do we engage the next generation of rising professionals?

4. Urban river development – becoming a River Town. Towns are looking to rivers as a centerpiece for economic and social urban renewal, rather than as a forgotten resource.

Important Links

Call for Papers (same as above, in pdf form)
Abstract Submission Form
Abstract Guidelines and Samples
Poster Guidelines
Poster Template (suggested)

Symposium Proceedings Flash Drive

RMS will put all presentations on a flash drive that is given to Symposium participants when they check in at the registration desk: thus, it will be essential that you deliver your program to RMS by the March 15, 2014, deadline.

If you know individuals who are potential presenters or who would simply like to attend the symposium, please pass this on. Thank you.