NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee
E-mail: Info@MRRIC.org
Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC)
For Immediate Release:
February 17, 2015
MISSOURI RIVER COMMITTEE TO MEET IN MISSOURI
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) will hold its 28th meeting February 23-26 in Kansas City, Mo. Public attendance is encouraged, and an opportunity is provided during each daily session for the public to address the Committee and the lead agencies, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), regarding the Missouri River Recovery Program (MRRP).
This meeting will be held at the Hilton Kansas City Airport, 8801 NW 112th Street, Kansas City, Mo., 64153, beginning at 1 p.m. Monday, February 23, and concluding at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, February 26. The MRRIC meeting agenda can be found online at www.MRRIC.org. All meeting sessions are open to the public.
The Committee has set aside a designated time for committee member interviews with media at 12:00 p.m. Wednesday.
At this meeting, MRRIC will receive an update from the Corps on the development of the Effects Analysis products and schedule, and the Adaptive Management Plan for the Missouri River Recovery Management Plan. The Committee will also learn about test alternatives for the piping plover and least tern and an update will be shared regarding modeling efforts, the human considerations proxy metrics, science hypotheses around the pallid, and the overarching progress on the development of the Corps’ Missouri River Recovery Management Plan. The Committee will continue to engage with the Independent Science Advisory Panel and the Independent Social and Economic Technical Review Panel on the MRRP’s use of science and adaptive management and socio-economic components of the Management Plan’s development. Additionally, the Committee will seek a final consensus on a recommendation letter asking the Corps to expedite implementation of Committee member travel expenses as stated in Water Resources Reform Development Act of 2014, Section 4013.
MRRIC is a 70-member committee that comprises stakeholders and representatives of Tribal, state and federal governments throughout the Missouri River Basin. This committee provides recommendations to federal agencies on the current and future activities of the MRRP. The committee makes its substantive recommendations by consensus.
For additional information regarding the MRRIC, please contact Dr. Michael Mac, committee chair, by e-mail at info@MRRIC.org. Web links related to the Missouri River recovery efforts are www.MRRIC.org and www.MoRiverRecovery.org.
The committee, established in the fall of 2008, meets quarterly at various locations throughout the Missouri River Basin. It will begin the upcoming meeting having approved 20 substantive recommendations addressed to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who is responsible for endangered species protection and recovery and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who operate the bank stabilization and navigation project and the mainstem dams on the Missouri River. The committee’s next quarterly meeting will be held May 19-21 in South Dakota.
MRRIC is staffed by RESOLVE, a Washington, D.C. dispute resolution firm (www.resolv.org), under a contract with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and with the assistance of federal agency staff.
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Release no. 15-004