Missouri River Ecosystem Restoration Plan (MRERP) Civic Engagement Meetings held throughout Missouri River Basin
Posted: 2/19/2010
In mid 2009, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) requested the independent and impartial assistance of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution in planning, designing, and implementing efforts to build collaborative opportunities with public stakeholders into the development of the Missouri River Ecosystem Restoration Plan (MRERP). The MRERP is a study that will result in a plan to guide the USACE mitigation, restoration and recovery efforts for the Missouri River for the next 30-50 years. To meet the request, the U.S. Institute developed and implemented the Civic Engagement Program. The program consisted of a series of public meetings throughout the basin, intended to educate public stakeholders on the MRERP, to gather input on key elements of the plan, to foster dialogue among stakeholders, and to help ensure that there were ample opportunities for public involvement as part of the overall public scoping process in the MRERP.
The eight Civic Engagement meetings were carried out in partnership with state-organizers including PlaceMatters/University of Montana Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy (Montana), South Dakota Public Policy Institute (South Dakota), Consensus Council (North Dakota), Creighton University Werner Institute/University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (Nebraska and Iowa), Kansas State University Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy (Kansas), and Consensus (Missouri).
A report detailing the meetings has been developed and submitted to USACE and FWS for consideration in the MRERP.
Note: Appendix E, the Montana Report, was modified in July 2010 to reflect comments that were missed during the initial production of that report.
View the report here
More information about MRERP and Missouri River Recovery Program is available at: www.moriverrecovery.org
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