USU Hosts Bear River Symposium, Water Quality Conference

Utah State University is the site for the Bear River Symposium/Nonpoint Source Pollution Water Quality Conference Sept. 5-7. Theme for the 2007 gathering is “Watersheds of the Intermountain West.”

Sponsored by the EPA Bear River Targeted Watershed Initiative and the Utah Nonpoint Source Pollution Task Force, the gathering covers nonpoint source and other water quality issues through the state and region, with special focus this year on the Bear River Watershed.

 

Conference sessions will cover a range of topics in watershed science and management, including a discussion of the USU-led online Bear River Watershed Information System.

 

Keynote speaker is Ed Marston, author of Western Water Made Simple and former publisher of High Country News. Marston speaks Thursday, Sept. 7, at 8:30 a.m. in the Eccles Conference Center auditorium.

 

Other featured speakers include Rick Sprott, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, and Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food Leonard Blackham.

 

The gathering includes a choice of two tour options, one to Cutler Marsh in western Cache Valley and one to river restoration and automated flow sites in northern Utah and southern Idaho.

 

Registration for the three-day conference closes Aug. 24. Students may attend free of charge but must register. A limited number of conference fee waivers is available for community participants.

 

Water resources professionals and managers, including farmers, ranchers, government land managers, scientists, resource specialists and educators are encouraged to attend the gathering.

 

For information about conference costs, waivers and schedule, visit the conference Web site.

 

 

Contact: Susan Anderson [susana@ext.usu.edu], 435-797-2580