the event

Kansas City, Missouri: National Ecosystem Restoration Conference

This isn't a typical restoration conference. Most that I've attended in the past were populated largely by grad students in jeans and tee-shirts. Jackets and ties were limited to those giving a talk, and often had a sort of weathered academic appearance.

Apparently the restoration business has crossed an economic watershed. Tee-shirts are scarcer than Black-footed Ferrets. Expensive business suits are common, and at break every fifth person seems to be checking messages on their Blackberry. Many of the big players are here: URS, CH2M Hill, Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, Brown and Caldwell, HDR Inc., PBS&J, and of course all of the federal agencies. With a difference: The agency heads who were invited actually made an appearance this time. Most did not send a mid-level subordinate to give their talk.

We heard from Lt. General Carl A. Strock, Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He's not the first I've heard take agency responsibility for the Corps past contributions to habitat degradation, but he did it a lot more succinctly, and he offered some specific ideas on how to contribute in a much more positive way in the future. I had a chance to talk with him at length later, and it's a shame he's retiring in a few weeks. He's a paratrooper, former 82nd Airborne, still wears his wings, and carries himself in a no-nonsense dynamic way. He's a results oriented guy, for obvious reasons. There are few second chances in what he was originally trained for. If only we could get the folks in the Corps Planning Branch in San Francisco to be half that dynamic... the Salt River would already be restored.

We also heard from Mark Myers, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, from a few other high-level agency folks, and finally from author John Barry, who had some very interesting ideas on how to reorganize things to get some results: He likes the BRAC system, which puts base closure recommendations in front of Congress for a straight yes-or-no vote, and he suggests that a similar system for prioritizing water-related issues has merit. Sure hope someone is listening.

I'm already loaded up with promotional goodies from the exhibit booths. I have many more pens than I need, passed on a red frisbee though because I'd rather not try to figure out where to fit it in my bags, and of course have a ton of paper. There may be a few books going home with me. There have been several offers to "collaborate on something" although of course most of these never amount to more than talk.

My award for best exhibit booth goes to Booz Allen Hamilton; they have three 16x20 inch boards mounted on a plain background, with exactly 29 words (including the name of the company) over a simple full-bleed image. It doesn't get much more concise, simple, and elegant than this. The message is that we should already know what they do... and with my business school background, of, course, I do.

The conference has perhaps already achieved "worthwhile" status, because of a chance encounter with someone from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sacramento office. She took a few minutes to give me an overview of the organizational structure there, and some suggestions (with phone numbers attached) on who to talk with to learn more specific things. This could save immense quantities of time later.

It's time for the welcome social, so I'd better grab a stack of business cards and get downstairs. More in a bit.