Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
February 24, 2006 F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E Top Bush Environmental Advisor to Speak to Family Farm Alliance Conference Next Week President Bush’s top environmental advisor will deliver the keynote address to Western family farmers and ranchers gathered at the 18th annual meeting and conference hosted by the Family Farm Alliance next week. James Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), will speak via videoconference from Washington, D.C. to the grassroots Alliance audience meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 2, starting at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time. “We are pleased to see that President Bush’s senior environmental advisor wants to talk directly with family farmers and ranchers,” said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance. “Chairman Connaughton’s presentation should provide a big-picture overview to our members of the environmental challenges and strategies that the Bush Administration is addressing.” Connaughton, who recently laid out the groundwork for the Bush Administration’s new wild Pacific salmon recovery strategy at an Oregon State University salmon conference, will address this topic, cooperative conservation, and other environmental policy issues of national importance to the Alliance audience, representing family farmers, ranchers and water managers from 17 Western states. The theme of the Alliance’s annual conference is “Keeping the Family in Farming”. The two-day event – set for Thursday and Friday, March 2-3 at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino – will feature irrigators and water policy experts from throughout the western United States and Washington, D.C. This year’s conference theme derives from discussions that arose at last year’s Alliance Annual Meeting, where Western farmers and ranchers recounted stories of farming operations that were disappearing because of increased competition and uncertainty arising from growing urban and perceived environmental water demands. M O R E Connaughton’s recent speech at OSU was noteworthy because it prompts Pacific Northwest residents to consider whether salmon recovery really is a shared societal goal. He stressed that all those who support this goal must also share responsibility for promoting recovery through actions aimed at all aspects affecting the salmon’s life cycle. This philosophy resonates with Western farmers and ranchers, many of whom have been shouldering increased responsibilities to protect fish and wildlife in the past two decades. “If protecting a species is important to society as a whole, then all of society - not just select family farms - should bear that burden,” said Patrick O’Toole, a Wyoming rancher who serves as president of the Alliance. “We have to have a decision-making process that is fair and takes into consideration the national security aspect of food production.” Other programs lined up for the Alliance event will reinforce the conference theme. One panel discussion will focus on how water managers from four Western states are addressing the challenges associated with agricultural-to-urban land use changes. Another will explain how some farmers in the Klamath Basin are finding innovative ways of working with national wildlife refuge managers to help migrating waterfowl and enhance farming operations. On the morning of Chairman Connaughton’s speech, Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, will describe how Las Vegas is planning to meet the water needs of a city that is growing at the rate of 3,000 to 5,000 new residents per month, in a region where agricultural and urban water users are already feeling pinched. Other features of this year’s conference will include presentations by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys III, Assistant Interior Secretary Mark Limbaugh, and all five Reclamation regional directors. THE FAMILY FARM ALLIANCE is a grassroots-based organization of agricultural water users and agencies, and water and farm-related businesses in 17 Western States. For more information on the Family Farm Alliance please go to www.familyfarmalliance.org. EDITORS AND REPORTERS: The complete Alliance conference agenda is attached. Media representatives are welcome to attend the March 2nd programs at the Family Farm Alliance Annual Meeting. Media inquiries should be directed to Dan Keppen at (541) 892-6244. Important Related Information: For James Connaughton’s bio, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/connaugton-bio.html For Chairman Connaughton’s recent salmon speech at OSU, go to http://www.familyfarmalliance.org/docs/JLC_Salmon_Speech_1.25.06.pdf For more information on salmon harvests and hatcheries, visit the Northwest Region's website. Other parties interested in attending the Annual Meeting should contact the Alliance at (707) 998-9487. KEEPING THE FAMILY IN FARMING 2006 Annual Meeting March 2-3, 2006 Thursday, March 2 7:30 am. Registration Desk Open 8:30 – 8:45 am. Welcome – Opening Comments Patrick O’Toole, President 8:45 – 10:15 am. Planning to Meet the Water Needs of Las Vegas Pat Mulroy, General Manager Southern Nevada Water Authority 10:15 - 10:25 am. Break 10:25 – 11:25 am. The Farm as Natural Habitat: “Walking Wetlands” Ron Cole, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Klamath Basin Refuge Complex Manager, Tulelake, California. Mike Noonan, grower, Klamath Falls, Oregon 11:30 – 12:25 p.m. Luncheon - Update on Alliance Initiatives Dan Keppen, Executive Director 12:30 –1:00 pm. Keynote Address Jim Connaughton, Chairman White House Council on Environmental Quality (via interactive videoconference from Washington, D.C.) 1:15 – 2:45 pm. Inside Washington – A Look at DC from The Hill Moderator: Joe Raeder, The Ferguson Group. Panelists: Majority and Minority Staffers from Key Senate and House Water Committees (via interactive videoconference from Washington, D.C.) 2:45 – 3:00 pm. Break 3:00 – 4:00 pm. The Changing Face of Western Agriculture: Addressing the Ag-to-Urban Shift David Bird, Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority, California Jim Sweeney, Maricopa Water District, Arizona Don Carlson, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Jo Jo White, Texas Water Conservation Association 4:00 – 5:00 pm. Using GIS to Manage Our Water Resources Mark Deutschman and Christy Shostal, Houston Engineering, Billings, Montana KEEPING THE FAMILY IN FARMING 2006 Annual Meeting March 2-3, 2006 Friday, March 3 7:30 am. Registration Desk Open 8:15 – 9:30 am. Achieving Reclamation’s Core Mission in the 21st Century: The Final Report of the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment Tom Donnelly, Executive Vice-President, NWRA David McCarthy, Deputy Commissioner of Reclamation Roger Patterson, President, Patterson Consulting, Inc. (Omaha, Nebraska), NRC Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment. Bennett Raley, The Law Firm of Trout, Raley, Montano, Witwer & Freeman, P.C. Moderator: Dan Keppen, Family Farm Alliance 9:30 – 10:00 am. Interior’s Agenda for 2006 and Beyond Mark Limbaugh, Ass’t Secretary for Water and Science Introduction: Patrick O’Toole, Family Farm Alliance 10:00 – 11:30 am. Reclamation Directors – Panel Discussion John Keys III, Commissioner of Reclamation Bill McDonald, Pacific Northwest Regional Director Kirk Rodgers, Mid-Pacific Regional Director Rick Gold, Upper Colorado Regional Director Bob Johnson, Lower Colorado Regional Director Mike Ryan, Great Plains Regional Director 11:30 – 11:45 am. Award Presentation Patrick O’Toole, President 11:45 – 12:00 pm. Closing Comments and Adjournment Patrick O’Toole, President |
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