Wetlands Program — Conferences, Trainings, & Seminars

ELI’s Wetland Program facilitates dialogue among professionals working wetlands law, policy, science, and management. The program seeks to improve wetlands protection by offering a forum for diverse interests in the wetlands profession to discuss, debate, and resolve timely issues. ELI also frequently holds trainings to educate conservation groups on wetland-related topics. Recent conferences and trainings include:

• In-Lieu Fee Program Training Course, September 13-14, 2011, Costa Mesa, CA: ELI, with funding from EPA Region IX, designed and facilitated a training course to educate in-lieu fee programs on federal compensatory mitigation regulations and their requirements for in-lieu fee programs.
• Training for Interagency Review Teams: In 2007, ELI worked with The Conservation Fund to design a training course for Interagency Review Teams on mitigation banking and in-lieu fee mitigation. The course is offered by The Conservation Fund in partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. For additional information on the course and the course materials developed by ELI, see the IRT Training Course Website.
• Workshop to Explore Opportunities to Integrate the State Wildlife Action Plans into Improved Wetland Conservation and Restoration, July 16-17, 2007, Washington, DC. The goal of the workshop was to identify and discuss opportunities for state wetland programs to utilize state wildlife action plans in regulatory and non-regulatory decision-making.
• Land Trust Training Course: Taking on Long-Term Stewardship Responsibilities of Wetland Mitigation Sites, This course was designed to improve the capacity of local and regional land trusts to manage wetland mitigation sites and meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act §404 program.
• National Forum on Synergies Between Water Quality Trading and Wetland Mitigation Banking, July 11-12, 2005, Washington, DC. The event was designed to bring together experts in wetland mitigation banking with those in the water quality trading community to facilitate a dialogue on stimulating future markets in water quality trading.
• National Symposium on Compensatory Mitigation and the Watershed Approach, May 19-21, 2004, Washington, DC. The symposium, held in partnership with the Mitigation Action Plan Workgroup (see http://www.mitigationactionplan.gov/), was designed to provide the Workgroup with direction and input on watershed-based planning tools/resources that could be utilized for the purposes of making compensatory mitigation decisions under §404 of the Clean Water Act.
• Since 2001, ELI has administered four Stakeholder Forums on Federal Wetlands Mitigation. Each event has brought together wetland professionals representing varying viewpoints to hear from a federal interagency policy group on current developments in wetlands policy. The Forums also provide an opportunity for discussions among groups with interests in compensatory mitigation, including mitigation providers, state and federal regulators, members of the environmental community and development interests. Presentations, audio recordings, forum reports, and other information for each event are available at the following pages:
• Fifth Stakeholder Forum on Federal Wetlands Mitigation, May 10-11, 2006, Washington, DC
• Fourth Stakeholder Forum on Federal Wetlands Mitigation, September 20-22, 2004, Tampa, FL.
• Third Stakeholder Forum on Federal Wetlands Mitigation, July 2003, Portland, OR.
• Stakeholder Forum on Federal Wetlands Mitigation, October 2001, Baltimore, MD.
• Each year, ELI’s Wetlands Program co-hosts continuing legal education for lawyers working for wetlands conservation with the American Law Institute/American Bar Association. In addition, ELI’s Associate Seminars reach environmental professionals in major cities across the nation with developments in environmental law, policy, and management, including wetlands topics.