Riparian Habitat Joint Venture Conference: Integrating Riparian Habitat Conservation & Flood Management in California

December 4-6, 2007; The Radisson Hotel, in Sacramento, California

Tentative List of Concurrent Session Talks
and Poster Session Presenters

Concurrent Session Talk Schedule

The State of California faces some of the greatest challenges in flood management and protection in the nation. It also has some of the most magnificent and diverse riparian forests and woodlands spanning the State’s equally diverse regions, including southern and central California coastal watersheds, the Central Valley, the San Francisco Bay-Delta, southeastern deserts, the Sierra Nevada, and northern California mountain ranges and forests. Riparian areas are inhabited by a wide diversity of wildlife, including migratory birds, waterfowl, and wetland species, and equally diverse aquatic species in the adjacent waters, including native amphibians, salmon and trout, sturgeon, and smelt. These areas act as wildlife corridors, provide essential reserve and open-space in many urbanizing regions of the State, and impart important ecological function to watersheds.

Riparian areas also occur within the floodplain and are the transition between the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Within California, unprecedented activities and investments at the local, state, and federal level are proceeding to reduce the risk and scope of potential damage and loss from flooding. Levee repair and maintenance, flood control, dam improvement, and restoration are just some of the significant issues that are encountered in many regions of the State.

This December, the Riparian Habitat Joint Venture (RHJV) will host agencies, organizations, scientists, engineers, landowners, and leaders endeavoring to protect the communities, property, and natural resources along the waterways across California. Their shared goal will be to tackle the many issues before them and to work toward integrating the many needs, ideas, and solutions for sustaining a safe, vibrant, and healthy environment all along the streams and rivers of California.

You are invited to attend and participate in the collaboration to conserve riparian areas while protecting communities from devastating floods.

The 2007 RHVJ Conference Steering Committee:

Conference summary:
This 2 1/2 day symposium will feature a plenary session, a keynote speech, concurrent sessions, and a poster session focused on the research, management, collaboration, and issues facing California to both prevent and manage floods and conserve, protect, and restore riparian habitat across the State. The symposium will provide a forum for natural resource scientists and managers, flood management experts and managers, land owners and conservancies, regulatory agencies, and policy makers to exchange ideas and perspectives and identify the critical issues that will need integration and cooperation to resolve into the future. Major themes of the 2007 symposium include flood control and protection; habitat, species, and natural community conservation; protecting and sustaining agriculture; and the health and safety of urban communities.

Preliminary Conference Schedule:

The conference will begin at Noon on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007. There will be plenary talks that day from 12pm to 5pm with an afternoon refreshment break. At 5:00pm there will be a dedicated poster session with hors d’ouevres provided.

On Wednesday morning there will be a keynote speaker followed by morning and afternoon concurrent sessions. There will be a full day of concurrent sessions on Thursday.

More information will be added regularly to this website as it becomes available.

Conference Theme:
This conference will provide a valuable forum for discussing the universal issues associated with riparian community management and conservation, floodplain management and flood protection, including the obstacles and opportunities to improve and integrate these activities in the future.

The Riparian Habitat Joint Venture (RHJV), a collaborative forum of 18 private, state, and federal partners is working to develop integrated opportunities for planning, funding and implementing riparian conservation. One of RHJV’s goals for 2007 is to host a conference that will bring together agencies, organizations, scientists, engineers, landowners, and leaders endeavoring to protect the communities, property, and natural resources along the waterways of the State. The purpose of the conference will be to address issues and solutions and to work toward integrating the many needs, ideas, and solutions for sustaining a safe, vibrant, and healthy environment along the streams and rivers of California.

The Riparian Habitat Joint Venture and Conference Steering Committee would like to thank the following organizations for their financial contribution to the 2007 conference. Such generous support makes it possible to host such an important event.

If your organization also would like to financially back the conference, please contact Kevin Shaffer at (916) 651-7806, kshaffer@dfg.ca.gov, or Ann Chrisney (916) 278-9428.

Financial Backing for the 2007 Riparian Habitat Joint Venture Conference

PATRONS

	California Department of Water Resources
	United States Fish and Wildlife Service

SPONSORS

	California Wildlife Conservation Board
	U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
	California Department of Fish and Game
	Bureau of Land Management
	National Marine Fisheries Services
	USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
	United States Geological Survey
	California State Lands Commission

SUPPORTERS
Audubon California
The Nature Conservancy
PRBO Conservation Science
Central Valley Joint Venture

CONTRIBUTORS
The Trust for Public Lands