Archives by Tag 'socioeconomic'

Healthy Farms, Healthy People: A Farm and Food Policy Summit (May 2011)

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 [...]

U.S. West Coast Swordfish Workshop: Working Towards Sustainability (May 2011)

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 [...]

CONCUR Facilitates Farm Bill Retreat (January 2011)

CONCUR Senior Associate Bennett Brooks facilitated a one-day retreat exploring the potential for a diverse set of national stakeholders  to build a coalition around the 2012 Farm Bill reauthorization. The January 2011 retreat, held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, brought together 30 public health, agriculture, environmental and anti-hunger leaders interested in [...]

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Dialogue (Fall 2010)

Between August and October 2010, CONCUR Principal Scott McCreary convened a phased dialogue focusing on improving land use decision-making for the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. The dialogue, supported by the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation, focused in particular on identifying and strengthening concrete commitments to Gorge resource protection and management. The Gorge, a stunning natural resource [...]

Peer-Reviewed Article on Marine Protected Areas Published in “Ocean & Coastal Management” Journal

CONCUR Principal Scott McCreary co-authored an article with Marine Life Protection Act Initiative colleagues entitled “Science-based and stakeholder-driven marine protected area network planning: A successful case study from north central California“, published in the current issue of Ocean & Coastal Management [53 (2010) 52-68]. Former CONCUR intern Kathryn Hoffman was a key co-author. In documenting [...]

Wingspread Foundation Water Funders Forum (January 2010)

CONCUR Principal Scott McCreary and Associate Rebecca Tuden teamed with conveners from The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread to facilitate a three-day workshop among 27 leading grant-making organizations involved in national and regional water resource efforts. The meeting was convened from January 13 – 15, 2010 at The Johnson Foundation in Racine, Wisconsin.   Participants in the [...]

Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) – BRTF Unanimously Adopts South Coast Region MPA Proposal (November 2009)

On November 12, 2009, the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF) unanimously (5 – 0) adopted a preferred marine protected area (MPA) proposal for the south coast study region, which includes 27 state marine reserves (SMRs), 1 state marine park (SMP) and 16 state marine conservation areas (SMCAs); this recommended proposal is referred to as [...]

New CONCUR Fact Sheet on Watershed Planning

CONCUR has prepared a new fact sheet focused on our watershed planning experience and expertise (download PDF). Watershed planning touches on a broad range of issues including local land use policies, stream protection concerns, restoration goals, flood control, and water quality. The planning framework can be transboundary and address implications for climate change adaptation, or [...]

Marine Protected Areas on California’s North Central Coast (August 2009)

On August 5, 2009, the California Fish & Game Commission voted to place roughly 20 percent of the state’s north central coastal waters (or approximately 153 square miles) into 21 marine protected areas (MPAs) and 3 marine recreational management areas. The designated waters (map below) were identified through a CONCUR-facilitated multi-stakeholder process (DFG project home [...]

CONCUR Op-Ed on Climate Change Published in the Sacramento Bee, August 16, 2009

On Sunday August 16, The Sacramento Bee published an Op-Ed piece by CONCUR Principals John Gamman and Scott McCreary that puts forward a strategy for preventing solar, wind energy and other climate change-focused projects from getting mired in avoidable conflicts. The piece offers an assessment of the source of the potential conflicts and then suggests [...]