The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) holds its Management Conference #87 on May 2nd, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Management Conference members will vote on the 2020 EPA BTNEP Workplan, but the conference is open to the general public.
THIBODAUX, La. — Upon inclusion in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Estuary Program, a diverse group of stakeholders was assembled including representatives from industry and business, fisheries, agriculture, oil and gas, government agencies, individual citizens, landowners, civic organizations, hunters, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, economists, and urban planners, to form a group known as the BTNEP Management Conference (BTNEP MC).
The BTNEP MC, ensures a place for the voice of all that live, work, and play within the estuary. The conference originally convened in 1990 to develop the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), and it has been the catalyst for producing open and frank discussions about some of the most critical coastal management issues of the nation for over 25 years. The BTNEP MC’s primary function is to encourage and oversee the implementation of the CCMP by coordinating and integrating the CCMP actions among agencies and stakeholders. In addition, the BTNEP MC maintains an interchange with other similar federal, state and local planning efforts, and reviews and modifies the implementation of the CCMP as conditions change over time. Finally, the BTNEP MC fosters and expands the use of participatory, voluntary and incentive-based approaches to decision-making in the estuary.
At the upcoming conference, members will vote on the 2020 EPA BTNEP Workplan, discuss any 2019-2020 additional BTNEP projects, and attendees will hear from three speakers — Richard DeMay, BTNEP Senior Scientist, and Scott Hemmerling, on an “Introduction to the BTNEP Climate Ready Estuary Assessment”, Dr. Veronica Manrique with an “Update on Chinese Tallow Demography Project”, and from Dr. Ben Springate and Ashley Everett about “Community Resilience Learning Collaborative and Research Network-C-Learn Update including New Products”.
“The BTNEP Management Conference meetings provide interested members of the public a chance to learn more about the good work of the National Estuary Program. The annual workplan meeting provides a quick overview of the many projects that the team is working on.” said Susan Testroet-Bergeron, Director of BTNEP.
For more information, or if you’d like to attend, please contact Nicole at 985.447.0868 or nicole@btnep.org
Learn more: BTNEP’s Management Conference
