Colleagues, this is a reminder to please contribute to the survey linked
below if you haven't already, and share this reminder with others!
For nearly two decades, instream flow conservation principles were provided
under the direction of the federal Cooperative Instream Flow Service Group
(CIFSG) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Since that group ceased to exist in
2001, no substitute centralized source of training and support services for
instream flow and water level conservation studies has been established.
Many who received training by the CIFSG have subsequently retired or moved
to other jobs. As a result this interdisciplinary water conservation field
has been losing a central focus, potentially leading to diminished
credibility with quantifying the effects of water uses and management and
research on effective conservation of instream flow and water levels on
fish, wildlife, and habitat.
These concerns are being addressed by the Instream Flow Council
<https://www.instreamflowcouncil.org/> and American Fisheries Society
<https://fisheries.org/> through a multi-state conservation grant project
that will determine the need for, feasibility of, and path towards
establishing a new instream flow and water level conservation training
center (National Center). As the first step of this project a steering
committee was formed representing water stakeholder interests
(state/provincial governments, federal/national governments, academic, and
private sector) to assess the needs and support for a new National Center
whose mission is to synthesize emerging research and to develop and provide
uniform interdisciplinary training in support of all aspects of ecological
flow and water level conservation.
This questionnaire attempts to identify interest in and level of support
for such a National Center. The survey
<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/InstreamFlowLevelsTrainingCenter> should
take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Below is a link to contribute to
the survey. It will be open and active *until Friday, August 6, 2021*.
Within the survey you'll note a choice to self-identify in one of 4
different categories, agency, business, organization, or individual. You
may fall into more than one of those categories. If so, you are welcome to
repeat the survey from each of those perspectives. But please don't repeat
responses for the same category more than once.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/InstreamFlowLevelsTrainingCenter
We want to maximize outreach to stakeholders so you are encouraged to share
this email and link with other water resource stakeholders. I will
apologize in advance if you receive multiple copies of this survey request,
which is highly likely if you are on multiple water and natural resource
distribution lists.
On behalf of my co-chair and Instream Flow and Water Level Conservation
Training Center project Steering Committee members, your time and input are
greatly appreciated!
SC Co-Chair David Weedman, IFC Past President
SC Co-Chair Doug Austen, AFS Executive Director
*SC Members*
Tom Annear
Daren Carlisle
Christopher Estes
Thom Hardy
Allan Locke
Donald Orth
Dudley Reiser
Clair Stalnaker
DAVID WEEDMAN, Past President of IFC and,
AQUATIC HABITAT PROGRAM MANAGER
ARIZONA GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT
OFFICE: 623.236.7607
MOBILE: 602.710.9132
EMAIL: dweedman@xxxxxxxxx
