WASHINGTON--Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton will address the opening session of the Joint Ventures: Partners in Stewardship Conference, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003, in Los Angeles, Calif. The conference with 250 educational sessions planned and an expected audience of approximately 1,500 participants will focus on the importance of federal, public-private partnerships and how planning and working together will provide for future success.
"The environmental challenges we face in the 21st Century are in many ways more subtle and more difficult than we have faced in the past," Norton said. "This conference will supply the knowledge, skills and tools needed to work with partners and create opportunities."
The three-day conference will bring together much of the senior leadership of the Department of the Interior's National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs; along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. Also, several hundred representatives of state and local governments, non-profits associations, concessioners, universities and many others who work with federal and state land management agencies have registered for this conference.
In addition to key officials, the conference will showcase one of the historic (1930s) red buses from Glacier National Park. The rehabilitation of the Red Bus fleet is a partnership project of Ford Motor Company, Glacier Park Inc. and the National Park Service. On Tuesday, Nov.18, at 7 a.m. the historic bus will be used to transport keynote speakers and other officials from the Bonaventure Hotel to the convention center.
Who: Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the Interior
David Rockefeller, Jr.
Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget
Rebecca Watson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management
Fran Mainella, Director of the National Park Service
John Keys, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation
Chief Dale Bosworth, U.S. Forest Service
Major General Carl Strock, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
William Mehojah, Jr., Deputy Director of Tribal Services, Bureau of Indian Affair
Elected officials from the state of California and other state officials from around the country
What: Partnership in Stewardship Conference
When: Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003
7 a.m.- Historic Red Bus departs Bonaventure Hotel
8 a.m.- Opening session of conference
9:10 a.m. - Secretary Norton remarks
10:30 a.m. Media availability
Where: Los Angeles Convention Center
Note to Editors: Secretary Norton will respond to questions immediately following her remarks. A full description of the program, speakers and more than 250 educational sessions is available on-line at www.partnerships2003.org. Additional information on the Red Bus history is available at: www.glacierparkinc.com/index.cfm?action=tours.buses.
