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Our 2-day training course “Negotiating Effective Environmental Agreements” will meet Wednesday-Thursday, March 7-8 2012 at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr campus in Berkeley, CA and today is the last day to register at the early-bird rate of $450!
“Negotiating Effective Environmental Agreements” is an intensive two-day workshop designed to meet the needs of professionals who are in a position to negotiate environmental agreements. In Course One, we show you how a process of face-to-face negotiation can augment traditional policy making with creative agreements that are better informed and more stable. During the training, participants learn the elements of mutual gains bargaining, apply them in a series of simulated disputes, and reflect on the application of these tools to everyday work situations. Participants receive a certificate of completion and MCLE credits (if applicable).
REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT INFORMATION: EARLY ENROLLMENT ENCOURAGED
To enroll in this course, please visit http://www.concurinc.com/courseone.html for more information and enrollment instructions.
The course tuition is $450 per individual until January 31, $650 afterward, and includes course materials, 2 continental breakfasts, 2 lunches, and one course dinner on Wednesday evening.
THE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 21ST for all enrollments, so please enroll early!
Posted in Training | January 31st, 2012
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Our 2-day training course “Negotiating Effective Environmental Agreements” will meet Wednesday-Thursday, March 7-8 2012 at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr campus in Berkeley, CA.
Negotiation is an increasingly important part of the day-to-day work of many professionals active in the environment, energy, natural resource management, and land use planning fields. While you or your staff may have had some exposure to negotiation, CONCUR’s training can take what may have been informal experience and take it up to the next level of professional practice, enabling you to negotiate more powerful agreements. With collaborative leadership playing a greater role in public policy, this course is timely for a wide range of professionals working across the full range of environmental and natural resource issues in planning, policy development, or site-specific projects.
“Negotiating Effective Environmental Agreements” is an intensive two-day workshop designed to meet the needs of professionals who are in a position to negotiate environmental agreements. In Course One, we show you how a process of face-to-face negotiation can augment traditional policy making with creative agreements that are better informed and more stable. During the training, participants learn the elements of mutual gains bargaining, apply them in a series of simulated disputes, and reflect on the application of these tools to everyday work situations. Participants receive a certificate of completion and MCLE credits (if applicable).
REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT INFORMATION: EARLY ENROLLMENT ENCOURAGED
To enroll in this course, please visit http://www.concurinc.com/courseone.html for more information and enrollment instructions.
The course tuition is $450 per individual until January 31, $650 afterward, and includes course materials, 2 continental breakfasts, 2 lunches, and one course dinner on Wednesday evening.
THE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 21ST for all enrollments, so please enroll early!
Posted in Training | December 13th, 2011
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Work to replace Seattle’s aging and at-risk elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct highway with a deep-bore tunnel continues to make important progress.
Starting in November 2011, construction crews began demolishing an 1,100-foot stretch of the Alaskan Way Viaduct’s southern end – a key early milestone in the $4.2 billion project to replace the waterfront highway. Another major step occurred in October, when Hitachi Zosen Corp. of Japan signed a contract to supply the machine that will tunnel the 57.5-foot-diameter tunnel beneath downtown Seattle. “Signing this contract gets us one step closer to taking down the vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire. “This state-of-the-art technology allows us to keep SR 99 – and the region’s economy – open for business during construction to replace this critical state highway.” These actions follow on the heels of both the signing this summer of the project’s Record of Decision and a public referendum in August in which voters overwhelmingly endorsed the high-profile project.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct section of State Route 99 runs from South Holgate Street south of downtown Seattle to Battery Street just north of downtown Seattle, where the Battery Street Tunnel connects the roadway to Aurora Avenue North.
CONCUR worked on the project from 2007 to 2010, with its role focused on collaborative process design, strategic planning advice and stakeholder involvement. CONCUR was part of a team that helped build broad consensus for the deep-bore tunnel alternative that helped break a years-long impasse.
For more on any of these developments and other AWV replacement-related news, see the Washington State Department of Transportation website at: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct/
Tags: alternatives analyses, AWV, economic analysis, Seattle, transportation & infrastructure, waterfront
Posted in US Projects | December 9th, 2011
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In July 2011, CONCUR facilitated a meeting of the NMFS False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (Team) to review a proposed rule intended to reduce false killer whale bycatch in the Hawaii-based longline fleet.
The three-day meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, was focused primarily on briefing and seeking feedback from Team members on the proposed rule – a mix of regulatory and non-regulatory measures based heavily on the consensus-supported draft False Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan hammered out by the Team during a series of CONCUR-facilitated deliberations in 2010. There were, however, several deviations from the draft Plan in the Proposed Rule put forward by NMFS. The meeting marked the start of a three-month-long public comment period.
The proposed rule is intended to meet the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) through a series of actions. Proposed regulatory measures include gear requirements, longline prohibited areas, training and certification in marine mammal handling and release, captains’ supervision of marine mammal handling and release, and posting of NMFS-approved placards on longline vessels. Included in the rule is a paired set of “triggers and consequences” to build in accountability and adaptive management as the rule is implemented. NMFS is also proposing non-regulatory measures, including research and data collection recommendations.
The 19-member negotiating team includes commercial fishing interests, local and national conservation organizations, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, researchers, biologists, and staff of the Pacific Islands Fishery Management Council and the Marine Mammal Commission.
The proposed rule (the proposed False Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan), the recommendations submitted by the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (the Draft False Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan), references, and other background documents are available at www.regulations.gov, or the Take Reduction Team Web site: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interactions/trt/falsekillerwhale.htm
CONCUR will be convening a series of workgroups in the coming months to continue fleshing out measures to implement the proposed rule.
Tags: biodiversity, bycatch, ESA, fisheries, FKWTRT, Hawaii, longline fishing, marine, marine mammals, NOAA/NMFS, Pacific, sustainability, TRTs
Posted in US Projects | November 16th, 2011
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CONCUR Senior Associate Bennett Brooks facilitated the September 2011 meeting of the National Marine Fisheries Services’ Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel, a 40-member panel that meets twice yearly in Silver Spring, Maryland, to advise the Agency on evolving fishing regulations. The Panel brings together representatives of commercial fishing, recreational fishing, conservation organizations, and scientific institutions, with deliberations focused on regulations relating to bluefin tuna, swordfish and other pelagic species. The three-day Panel meeting held September 20 to 22 centered on the following topics: alternatives for the conservation and management of Atlantic tunas, with an emphasis in particular on reducing dead discards; strategies to revitalize the swordfish fishery, including potential changes in the permitting process; a range of shark fishery management issues; and numerous updates and briefings. The Panel deliberations were followed by a focused shark catch share workshop, also facilitated by CONCUR. The workshop included detailed consideration of catch share design options from allocation and eligibility requirements, to geographic and species scope and transferability considerations. CONCUR has been facilitating the Advisory Panel since May 2010.
Tags: Atlantic, bycatch, coastal, fisheries, HMS, marine, NOAA/NMFS, sustainability
Posted in US Projects | November 15th, 2011
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Building on the outcomes of a 2007 national workshop facilitated by CONCUR, NMFS has prepared a draft national policy for distinguishing whether injuries to marine mammals incidental to commercial fishing (such as when an animal is hooked or entangled) should be considered serious or non-serious. The NMFS Draft National Policy for Distinguishing Serious From Non-Serious Injuries of Marine Mammals – published in the Federal Register on July 18, 2011 and expected to be finalized in early 2012 – will serve as the basis for analyzing marine mammal injury reports, a key input to marine mammal stock assessment reports (SAR) and ultimately in Take Reduction Plans.
NMFS convened the Serious Injury Technical Workshop in 2007 to review performance under existing processes and to gather the best available and current scientific information. Based on the results of the workshop and input from marine mammal scientists, veterinary experts and MMPA Scientific Review Groups, NMFS developed the draft Policy and Procedural Directives. These directives describe national guidance and criteria for distinguishing serious from non-serious injuries. Criteria for distinguishing between serious and non-serious injuries are spelled out for different of injury categories for large cetaceans, small cetaceans, and pinnipeds.
The original workshop report is entitled, “Differentiating Serious and Non Serious Injury of Marine Mammals - Report of the Serious Injury Technical Workshop (PDF)” 10-13 September 2007, Seattle, Washington. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-OPR-39. 94 p.
Tags: ESA, marine, marine mammals, NOAA/NMFS
Posted in US Projects | November 15th, 2011
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CONCUR Senior Associate Bennett Brooks teamed with Consensus Building Institute Senior Associate Ona Ferguson to co-facilitate the Summit to Build Urban Coastal Resilience in New York, a day-long dialogue focused on identifying opportunities for increasing coastal resilience in New York State’s urban areas. The meeting, held October 5, 2011, at the New York Academy of Sciences and sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, brought together leaders from New York State, New York City, the Regional Plan Association and other communities and organizations committed to reducing vulnerability to urban coastal flooding tied to climate change-driven, sea-level rise.
Much of the group’s deliberations centered on the suite of recommendations developed in late 2010 by the New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force, with participants seeking to identify near-term steps likely to foster progress on a subset of actions considered most feasible and/or most important. Discussions included consideration of both structural and non-structural strategies, as well as actions likely to support risk-based, science-driven approaches. Summit participants outlined a series of potential follow-on steps, including (1) a dialogue among state agencies to better identify state priorities, and (2) possible joint city-state initiatives aimed at fostering integrated mapping and prioritized research.
Participating agencies included, among others, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of State, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency.
Tags: climate change, coastal, flood control, natural resource and land use planning, New York, sustainability, waterfront
Posted in US Projects | October 31st, 2011
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CONCUR conducted a one-day workshop in Honolulu, Hawaii, focused on effective community participation in Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) efforts. The August 2011 workshop was presented by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), one of eight regional fishery management councils tasked with developing management plans to govern fishing activity in U.S. waters.
CMSP is an approach to addressing the conflicts among the various existing and future uses of the coastal and marine environment. It is also one of the nine strategic actions in the National Ocean Policy, established by President Obama with an executive order in 2010. Though the role of all eight councils in CMSP is not yet defined, the WPRFMC is keenly interested in supporting local input into CMSP. For that reason, the August 5 workshop – offered to approximately 40 fishermen, indigenous community members, and Council staff – highlighted the critical role of negotiation in CMSP, emphasizing the essential need to articulate interests and exploring ways to organize and mobilize data and information for effective planning. The study area for the workshop was the offshore site of Penguin Bank, a prized fishing ground for fishermen from Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Lanai.
In planning and executing the workshop, CONCUR drew on its extensive experience facilitating and structuring CMSP efforts with fishing and indigenous communities in California and on the East Coast.
Tags: biodiversity, CMSP, coastal, cross-cultural, fisheries, Hawaii, joint fact-finding, marine, Pacific, sustainability, tribal
Posted in US Projects | September 9th, 2011
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Work to replace Seattle’s aging and at-risk elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct highway with a deep-bore tunnel took two more important steps forward this month as Seattle voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in support of the project and federal highway officials gave final sign-off to the $4.2-billion initiative.
The federal action – known as the signing of the project’s Record of Decision – completes a lengthy environmental review and a more than 10-year-long decision-making process. With the decision, WSDOT officials have given the green light to the tunnel contractor, Seattle Tunnel Partners, to move ahead with final design and construction, according to a news release. “Initial construction activities, such as utility relocation, and final design and manufacturing of the tunnel boring machine will begin this fall,” WSDOT reports.
The public referendum held August 16, 2011 was an advisory vote intended to gauge the public’s support for the massive project. Voters approved the measure with 60-percent of the vote. “Seattle voters sent a message loud and clear with this vote — enough is enough,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who in 2009 joined with then-Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and then-County Executive Ron Sims in 2009 to endorse the deep-bore tunnel option. “After 10 years of debate, hundreds of public meetings and technical studies, and thousands of public comments, it is time to move forward without delay.”
For more on the vote, see the New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/us/19seattle.html
CONCUR worked on the project from 2007 to 2010, with its role focused on collaborative process design, strategic planning advice and stakeholder involvement. CONCUR was part of a team that helped build broad consensus for the deep-bore tunnel alternative that helped break a years-long impasse.
Tags: alternatives analyses, AWV, economic analysis, Seattle, strategic planning, transportation & infrastructure, waterfront
Posted in US Projects | August 24th, 2011
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As part of CONCUR’s periodic guest lectures at major universities, Senior Associate Bennett Brooks served as a guest lecturer at Columbia University in July 2011. Speaking to the graduate-level course, “Environmental Conflict Resolution Strategies,” taught by Adjunct Professor Allen Zerkin, Bennett’s presentation focused on strategies for folding complex and often-contested information into science-intensive, consensus-seeking dialogues. His remarks drew on lessons from CONCUR’s work with the CALFED Bay-Delta Program in California and the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, Washington. Over the past five years, CONCUR staff have taught courses and/or delivered guest lectures at, among other places, Columbia, New York University, University of California Berkeley, Vermont Law School, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, UC Davis School of Law and Stanford Law School.
Tags: independent scientific review, joint fact-finding
Posted in Briefings & Presentations | August 23rd, 2011
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