Western Governors’ Association
Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service
Nevada Department of Wildlife

Department of the Interior
North American Grouse Partnership
National Wildlife Federation

This will be an informal discussion intended for agency and academic researchers to meet with oil, gas, REA, and associated industries to discuss possibilities for collaborative research to ultimately develop scientific guidelines.

Welcome: Steve Robinson, Office of the Governor - State of Nevada

Western Governors' Association Sage Grouse Video -- Carl Sylvester, ESRI

Keynote: Judge Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks – US Department of the Interior

“Implications of the ‘Not Warranted’ Decision on the Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Effort”

Wildlife Values in Sagebrush Habitats

Mike Schroeder, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 

“It’s Working for Us – Learning by Doing”

A panel of sage-grouse working group members discuss what has worked for them.

• Foster Creek Local Working Group - Washington
  Britt Dudek, District Manager, Foster Creek Conservation District
• Northwest Colorado Local Working Group - Colorado
  Jean Stetson
• Shoshone Basin Local Working Group - Idaho
  Rick Yankey & Rob Rogerson
• Bi-State Local working Group - Nevada
  Gilbert Yanuck
  

The Conservation Status Assessment – Benchmark for Conservation

Steve Knick, U.S. Geological Survey

Attendees will have an opportunity to network with working group members and provide feedback on the morning sessions.

Concurrent Breakout Session I

The following sessions will be held concurrently at 1:30 and repeated at 2:30, giving attendees the opportunity to participate in two breakouts.

* The Power of Consensus -- Mike Havercamp, University of Nevada - Cooperative Extension -- Room: Southern Pacific AG
* Working Together for RESULTS -- Paul Sweeney, Natural Resources Conservation Service  -- Room: Southern Pacific B
* The Science and Art of Re-establishing Sagebrush Ranges -- Steve Monsen, Western Ecological Consulting -- Room: Southern Pacific C
* Resources and Programs Available for Private Lands in the West -- Phil Gonzales, Natural Resources Conservation Service -- Room: Southern Pacific D
* Harvest Management, Translocations, Predator Control - “The Silver Bullets” -- Jack Connelly, ID Dept. of Fish and Game -- Room: Southern Pacific E
* Do Local Conservation Plans Make a Difference - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Perspective -- Laurie Sada, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Room: Southern Pacific F

  Concurrent Breakout Session II

(Session descriptions listed above)

Break

A panel discussion on the following topics will be followed by a Q&A with attendees.

Oil and Gas Development on Public Lands
Tom Rinkes, Bureau of Land Management

West Nile Virus: Current Status and Monitoring Needs
Dave Naugle, University of Montana

Working with the Energy Industry
Joe Icenogle, Fidelity Exploration & Production Co.

Working with the Transmission Industry
Jim Burruss, PacifiCorp

Working with Wind Power Industry
Tim Reynolds, TREC Inc

Range Management in Sagebrush Habitats
Chad Boyd, Society for Range Management

Networking Social (Cash bar)

Welcome, Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies

Banquet and Special Presentation
Western Governors' Message -- Russ George, Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources

Keynote -- Rick Danvir, Wildlife Manager, Deseret Land & Livestock Ranch: “Sagebrush Management on the Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch: An On-going Experiment”

Keynote Address

Kathleen Clarke, Director, BLM "Learning by Listening: The BLM's Role in Cooperative Sage-grouse Planning"

A panel discussion on the following topics will be followed by a Q&A with attendees.

Synopsis of Current and Needed Research
San Stiver, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies & Dave Naugle, University of Montana

Monitoring and Adaptive Management
Paul V. Dresler, U.S. Geological Survey

Joint Fact-finding: Asking the Right Questions
Herman Karl, U.S. Geological Survey

Breakout Sessions: “Getting on the Same Page”

Facilitated Session: Brainstorming and prioritizing issues, needs, and identifying barriers to success by local working group members.

• Inter-group and Inter-state Issues and Opportunities
• Research: Science and Technology Needs
• Project Monitoring: Status and Needs
• Implementation Challenges

  Columbia & Snake River Basin - (Red) Southern Pacific AG
  Northern Great Basin - (Blue) Southern Pacific B
  Southern Great Basin - (Green) Southern Pacific C
  Colorado Plateau Basin - (Orange) Southern Pacific D
  Wyoming Basin / Silver Sagebrush Region - (Yellow) Southern Pacific EF
  
  

Open Discussion and Questions

Panel discussion followed by Q&A

USDA Resources - Natural Resources Conservation Service -- Sara Braasch, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Tools Already in the Box -- Sean Finn, US Geological Survey

NGO Resources -- Ben Deeble, National Wildlife Federation

Industry Resources -- Ron Hogan, Questar Exploration & Production Company

DOI Resources -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Jody Brown, Kevin Kritz, and Bridget Nielsen

Challenging the Group

Networking Social (Cash bar)

Welcome - North American Grouse Partnership’s Board of Directors