ONLINE REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED.   WALK-IN PARTICIPANTS ARE WELCOMED AND ENCOURAGED.  PLEASE GO TO THE HOTEL ON THURSDAY MORNING TO REGISTER

On July 29-30, the US Forest Service, supported by the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and Meridian Institute, will hold a Fourth National Roundtable event  on the New Planning Rule in Washington DC at the Renaissance DuPont Hotel.  There will also be a concurrent online roundtable. 

The purposes of this, the Fourth National Roundtable, are to:

• Provide a broad overview of what stakeholders and scientists have said to date about key elements of the planning rule;
• Share the approaches and rationale behind what the Forest Service rule writing team is proposing for those elements;
• Hear from stakeholders whether any of the proposed approaches are unclear, what they like, and whether there are any fundamental concerns or major gaps; and
• Obtain input about how any concerns or gaps might be addressed.

Pre-registration is strongly requested as far in advance as possible.

For those unable to attend the 4^th Roundtable in person, the meeting will also include a facilitated, online discussion component.  Please pre-register for the Online Roundtable above if you would like to participate.  More details will be available soon on the Planning Rule Website. 

If you have any questions about the Roundtable, please contact Justin Henceroth at Meridian Institute, (970) 513-8340 x. 252 or jhenceroth@merid.org.

If you have questions concerning special needs or to request sign language interpretation, contact Liz Duxbury at (970) 513-8340 x. 225 or lduxbury@merid.org  at least a week before the roundtable.

From mid-June through July the Forest Service will post draft concepts for proposed rule content on their website and the planning rule blog along with explanations of why they are proposing the concept and how it incorporates the latest science and public input.  We encourage you to participate in this online discussion in advance of the Fourth Roundtable.  The feedback received through the blog will inform the design of the 4^th Roundtable.

To encourage broad participation the Forest Service, through the National Forest Foundation, will be offering the opportunity to apply for travel support (flight and/or ground transportation and/or hotel) to attend the national roundtables.  These funds are targeted toward individuals who would not be able to attend without such assistance.  This assistance will help ensure that multiple stakeholder perspectives are represented in the planning rule dialogue.  Information about travel assistance is available here. 

DRAFT AGENDA

DAY ONE  

8:00-8:30 a.m. Registration (During this time there will also be an optional orientation session for attendees who are new to the Roundtables.)

8:30 a.m.         Welcome and agenda review – Connie Lewis, Meridian Institute

8:40 a.m.         Opening comments and vision for 2011 planning rule – Chief Tom Tidwell

·         How this rule differs

·         Framework of the Rule

9:00 a.m.         Rule overview – Tony Tooke, Director of Ecosystem Management Coordination

·         Outline of the rule and brief explanation of each section

·         The roles of the rule, the preamble, and the directives

·         Explanation of what we are covering at this meeting and why

9:30 a.m.         Plenary presentation and Q&A: key elements in the draft rule – Forest Service

For each of key elements, the Forest Service will share the conceptual approaches and rationale behind what the rule writing team is tentatively proposing.  There will be Q&A following each presentation.  

·         Collaboration and public involvement

·         Monitoring

10:30 a.m.       Break

10:45 a.m.     Key elements presentation and Q&A continued

·         Recreation and other multiple uses

·         Plant and animal diversity

·         Restoration and resilience

12:00 p.m.       Lunch

1:00 p.m.       Break-out groups

Break-out groups (pre-assigned to ensure diversity of perspectives) will each discuss the key elements described in the morning plenary. Members of the Forest Service rule writing team will be present in each session. Note-takers will keep track of concerns, gaps and suggestions. Groups will take a break at their discretion.

For each topic, the break-out groups will:

·         Identify concepts that need clarification;

·         Provide brief feedback on the concept;

·         Explore any fundamental concerns, gaps, implementability; and

·         Begin developing suggestions for how those concerns or gaps might be addressed.

5:30 pm           Adjourn

 DAY TWO

7:00 a.m.       A document that consolidates the feedback from day one will be available. 

                     Overnight, Meridian will consolidate the feedback from day one into a summary document.  This document will be available for review starting at 7:00 a.m. on day two.

8:30 a.m.         Overview of NFMA and the regulatory and legal framework for the 2011 planning rule   

(see link to “History of Forest Planning” on the Planning Rule website http://fs.usda.gov/planningrule/ for some helpful background information)

9:00 a.m.       Refine feedback on the proposed rule (Format TBD, based on additional concerns or questions of the group)

·         Identify commonalities and discrepancies in the feedback provided by different break-out groups;

·         Explore if/how discrepancies can be reconciled and various suggestions synthesized; and

·         Identify and discuss any other issues

12:45 p.m.       Closing remarks and brief discussion of next steps

1:00 p.m.         Adjourn