GLIN==> 2004 "Actions Toward a Sustainable Great Lakes" Conference and GreatLakes Commission Semiannual Meeting

[Christine Manninen <manninen@glc.org>]

http://www.glc.org/meeting/

Note: a special registration discount applies to all who attend both events!

Dear Great Lakes Colleague:

It is our pleasure, on behalf of more than two dozen partner agencies 
and organizations, to invite you to the second Great Lakes 
Sustainability Conference titled, "Actions Toward a Sustainable Great 
Lakes." Set for May 5-6 at the Sheraton Cleveland City Centre hotel, 
this event builds upon a highly successful conference conducted last 
summer at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Our objective is to bring the diversity of regional interests together 
to explore and pursue the notion of "sustainability" and its 
environmental and economic dimensions. Last year, we focused on unmet 
needs, built partnerships among these diverse interests, and identified 
areas of shared concern. This year, our focus is on action: on what is, 
and will be done to address those needs. Toward that end, we are 
organizing plenary and breakout sessions around a series of overriding
sustainability, restoration and protection themes that have emerged from 
the region over the past year. These include:

* water use and management
* water quality
* toxic hotspots
* aquatic invasive species
* human health
* habitat/wetlands
* sustainable waterways (commercial and recreational navigation)

We have a great lineup of outstanding speakers, but the emphasis will be 
on dialogue with participants. Moving the notion of "sustainability" 
from concept to application is not a spectator sport! The conference 
will yield ideas, and commitments to action, that will influence the 
continued development and implementation of Great Lakes sustainability
priorities and, in so doing, recognize the interrelationships between 
the environmental and socio-economic needs of this binational region.

Complementing the plenary and breakout sessions will be opportunities 
for networking in a very enjoyable setting, including a reception and 
dinner at Cleveland's Great Lakes Science Center, a great facility on a 
Great Lake!

We are pleased to note that the Great Lakes Commission will hold its 
2004 Semiannual Meeting in conjunction with the conference. Set for May 
4 (with an opening reception the evening of May 3), the conference 
features a theme of "Restoring the Greatness of Our Freshwater Seas!" 
The meeting will include policy presentations and actions on the leading 
issues of our day, and a special focus is planned on the upcoming report 
of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and its implications for the 
Great Lakes. Policymakers and opinion leaders from throughout the 
binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region will gather at this event and 
are encouraged to stay for the sustainability conference immediately
following.

Please register now online at http://www.glc.org/meeting/ or by 
completing and returning the attached form. The registration deadline of 
April 16 also applies to the conference hotel (Sheraton Cleveland City 
Centre, 1-800-321-1090) where a special rate of $86 (US) plus tax has 
been negotiated.

Preliminary programs are available online. Follow-up correspondence 
later this month will include additional details. Agencies and 
organizations that wish to be listed as a sponsor (no financial 
contribution required) are invited to contact us at their earliest 
convenience.

We look forward to seeing you in Cleveland!

Lt. Col. Jeffrey M. Hall
Commander, Buffalo District
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Michael J. Donahue, Ph.D.
President/ Chief Executive Officer
Great Lakes Commission

regform04.pdf