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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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CONCUR Principal Scott McCreary and Senior Associate Bennett Brooks designed and led a training course in Mutual Gains Bargaining for the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, a 16-member consortium devoted to the dual goals of protecting ocean ecosystems and ensuring a long-term seafood supply.
The focus of the training was to impart and practice skills that will serve the Alliance internally, but also foster more productive negotiations with external partners. Participants included representatives of major research aquariums, conservation organizations and groups involved in food policy from the US and Canada who have partnered since 2008 to pursue a common vision for environmentally sustainable seafood.
CONCUR conducted focused interviews with Alliance members and then designed a customized training course, including two new simulation exercises that model the issues and players that the Alliance includes or engages in its work. Topics included framing issues for negotiation, establishing objective criteria, using joint fact-finding to overcome technical disagreements, and finding a zone of agreement. The day-long session was held on June 10, 2011.
Tags: fisheries, joint fact-finding, marine, natural resource and land use planning, sustainability
Posted in Training, US Projects | July 26th, 2011
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CONCUR often designs and executes collaborative processes that mesh with (or culminate in) a final environmental assessment. In the case of Seattle’s aging and at-risk Alaskan Way Viaduct (AWV) highway, the State of Washington has this week released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for its plans to replace the AWV with a deep-bore tunnel and transit option preferred by the State, City of Seattle and King County officials.
The FEIS represents the culmination of ten years of technical analysis and public, agency and tribal review. “The final EIS represents countless hours of debate, town halls, public outreach and technical review,” said Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire. “Completing this review process wasn’t a sprint, it was a marathon. Now the finish line is in sight, and we’ll begin construction of the bored tunnel this fall.” The final EIS examines the potential environmental effects of viaduct replacement alternatives, including a bored tunnel, and builds on the analysis included in the 2004 draft EIS, the 2006 supplemental draft EIS and the 2010 supplemental draft EIS. The document compares the effects of all three “build” alternatives (bored tunnel, cut-and-cover tunnel and an elevated structure) and explains why a bored tunnel is the preferred alternative. A Record of Decision is expected in August.
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 after years of stalled negotiations.
Tags: alternatives analyses, AWV, economic analysis, EIR/EIS, Seattle, strategic planning, transportation & infrastructure, waterfront
Posted in US Projects | July 11th, 2011
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CONCUR Senior Associate Bennett Brooks facilitated a ground-breaking meeting that brought together more than 100 leading agriculture, anti-hunger, public health and environmental advocates to better understand each other’s interests related to the 2012 Farm Bill and identify opportunities for possible future collaboration. The two-day meeting, referred to as Healthy Farms, Healthy People: A Farm and Food Policy Summit for a Stronger America, offered an in-depth look at different stakeholder groups’ interests and strategies for pushing the multi-billion-dollar Farm Bill towards more sustainable and healthy practices.
The summit, held May 17-18, 2011, in Arlington, Virginia, included presentations by Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and Centers for Disease Control’s William Dietz, as well as panel discussions with House and Senate legislative staffers. Much of the meeting centered around a series of facilitated breakout sessions focused on topics ranging from expanding access to healthy foods to understanding challenges farmers face in producing healthy foods. Next steps are to include a series of webinars to explore opportunities for future collaboration and coalition-building. Bennett worked with a small organizing committee for two months prior to the event to help parties build a shared vision for the summit. He facilitated a similarly focused retreat in January 2011. Consensus Building Institute Senior Associate Rachel Milner Gillers co-facilitated the workshop.
Tags: agriculture, natural resource and land use planning, socioeconomic, sustainability
Posted in US Projects | July 6th, 2011
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Building on past work, CONCUR has been chosen to facilitate a two-year-long series of four Advisory Panel (AP) meetings on Highly Migratory Species for the Sustainable Fisheries Division of NMFS. The Advisory Panel consists of 40 representatives of commercial fishing, recreational fishing, conservation organizations, and scientific institutions convened to advise the agency on evolving regulations.
CONCUR Affiliate Dr. Jonathan Raab facilitated the April 5-7, 2011 AP meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland. Deliberations focused on bluefin tuna, sharks, and swordfish revitalization. Some specific topics addressed with regard to bluefin tuna included the 2011 quota, reduction of bycatch (including introduction of a weak hook rule to reduce bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico), and options for improving real-time monitoring of landings and discards. Deliberations over swordfish included a review of the Pelagic Longline closed area. The meeting also featured an update on Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning initiatives. Extensive discussion was also focused on options to improve the future of the shark fisheries. The next HMS meeting will be convened in September 2011.
Tags: bycatch, coastal, fisheries, HMS, marine, NOAA/NMFS, sustainability
Posted in US Projects | May 27th, 2011
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On May 10 and 11, 2011, CONCUR facilitated the U.S. West Coast Swordfish Workshop: Working towards Sustainability. The workshop, convened by the National Marine Fisheries Service in San Diego, California, was an exploratory dialogue with several objectives:
• Share information about the global demand relative to U.S. demand for swordfish products;
• Consider the global scale of ecosystem impacts from swordfish fisheries;
• Consider the broader ecosystem context of swordfish West Coast fisheries, including the consequences of curtailed swordfish West Coast fisheries for transfer effects and global capacity building;
• Understand the implications of declining swordfish West Coast fisheries, including the impact on coastal community jobs, producer benefits and consumers choices; and,
• Examine the extent to which U.S.-caught swordfish can contribute to regional and global environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The wide-ranging workshop brought together more than 70 participants with a diverse range of perspectives - from commercial fishing, fishery management and ocean conservation, to seafood consumers, suppliers, and restaurateurs. Workshop topics included the life history and population of swordfish, stock status, socioeconomic factors affecting swordfish fisheries and coastal communities, the interplay of swordfish fishing and ecological impacts, and consumer trends and perceptions. Particular emphasis was placed on the differential impact, particularly bycatch, associated with the U.S. fleet relative to international fleets. Small group discussions considered the ecological and economic sustainability of the U.S. West Coast swordfish fishery, potential gear and operational changes, factors affecting demand for U.S. swordfish, and next steps to carry this conversation forward.
Principal Scott McCreary and Senior Associate Bennett Brooks worked closely with a NMFS Steering Committee to refine the agenda and design the approach to the interactive workshop. The meeting format included a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and small group dialogue.
Tags: bycatch, fisheries, NOAA/NMFS, socioeconomic, sustainability
Posted in US Projects | May 19th, 2011
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CONCUR facilitated a two-day meeting intended to generate concrete strategies for improving the timeliness of data used to manage recreational fisheries nationwide.
The meeting, referred to as the Recreational Data Timeliness Workshop and held March 15-16, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Florida, is compelling because fishery managers, recreational fishing interests and conservation interests all have a stake in the potential benefits of increased data timeliness.
Focused on learning from experiences with recreational fishing data timeliness across the different NMFS regions, the workshop considered approaches to meet new demands for both data collection and management related to timeliness, and explored new strategies for improving data timeliness, looking at the details of both lag time and “waves” of reporting and the linkage to fishery management.
The workshop, sponsored by the NMFS Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), was attended by about 40 invited participants, including representatives from NMFS headquarters, several NMFS regions and science centers, state and regional fishery management councils, fishery management commissions, representatives of the recreational fishing community, and NGOs involved in fisheries management and conservation.
Workshop Steering Committee members included representatives from American Sportfishing Association, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Coastal Conservation Association, Pew Trusts, and Environmental Defense.
The workshop summary report is available in PDF here.
Tags: fisheries, marine, NOAA/NMFS
Posted in US Projects | April 13th, 2011
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