The Watershed Wildfire Protection Group meeting will be held on Friday, November 18th from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm MST at the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Administrative Offices at 6060 Broadway in Denver. Please RSVP by November 11th in order for them to have an accurate head count. They will have coffee, morning snacks, and lunch available for participants. In the week prior to their next meeting, they will also send out a meeting web-link and call-in number for those unable to participate in person. Call, reply, or stop by with any concerns and/or questions to Richard M. Edwards, CF, Assistant Staff Forester, Forest Management Division, 970) 491-8036 or Rich.Edwards@colostate.edu.

The Central Rockies Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration and the High Altitude Revegetation Workshop are calling for ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS for the March 7-9, 2017 joint conference to be held in Fort Collins, Colorado. Deadline for submission is November 21, 2016. They are seeking high quality oral presentations and posters by practitioners, scientists, land managers, students and policymakers to enhance our understanding of restoration and revegetation in diverse ecosystems using a variety of methods. For more information, see the conference web page chapter.ser.org. Please email, harcerser@gmail.com, with any questions.

EPA is pleased to announce the release of a new document: The National Nonpoint Source Program - A Catalyst for Water Quality Improvements, – and known more simply around the agency as The Nonpoint Source Highlights Report. This report is the first-ever national snapshot of the agency’s work to reduce water pollution from nonpoint sources through its Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution Management Program. Under Section 319, states, territories and tribes receive EPA grant funding to support a wide variety of activities including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects and monitoring to assess the success of specific NPS pollution implementation projects. This report offers a glimpse of NPS activities underway across the United States and major program accomplishments. Since the program began in 2006, more than 6,000 miles of streams and 164,000 acres of lakes have been removed from EPA’s impaired waters list due in part to EPA Section 319 grant assistance. To read the report, visit www.epa.gov/nps/highlights.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a new publication entitled, “Protecting Drinking Water at the Source: Lessons from U.S. Watershed Investment Programs,” along with an accompanying blog and podcast. The report provides ideas for watershed program investors and practitioners by sharing experiences and lessons from 13 watershed investment programs from across the U.S. The report is also based on a 3-year comparative case study analysis, and serves as a roadmap to guide utilities and communities as they work together to protect precious source waters. Check out the report, blog, and podcast on WRI’s website. They will also be presenting this information on the Source Water Collaborative Learning Exchange webinar next Wednesday, November 2nd at 1:00pm (eastern).

The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has created a website devoted to the Colorado Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program available at http://coloradoewp.com/. The website provides current information on the EWP Program for the public, as well as resources to assist watershed coordinators, local governments, landowners, and other interested parties with the implementation of watershed recovery projects.

Partner with the San Juan Resource Conservation & Development Council. The San Juan RC&D offers a cost-effective way to implement new projects, host annual events, bring together groups of people to collaborate on solving community issues and try new approaches to resource conservation and economic development. Their fiscal sponsorship services offer an advantage to small, grassroots groups that may not otherwise be able to enter the nonprofit sector due to unfamiliarity with 501(c)3 regulations or a budget that doesn’t include the expense of acquiring and maintaining 501(c)3 status. Under the umbrella of their financially sound 501(c)3 motivated individuals or groups can save time and resources to focus on achieving their vision. Projects will benefit from their long history of excellent service in fiscal sponsorship, management of finances, project implementation, grant reporting and IRS compliance. They are currently work with three groups interested in water quality issues: the Animas Watershed Group, the Animas River Stakeholders Group and the Pine River Watershed Group. For more information contact 970-382-9371 or sjrcd@hotmail.com.

The Colorado Wildland Fire Conference is accepting presentation proposals. The conference will be held April 19 – 21, 2017 at the Pueblo Convention Center in Pueblo, CO. This conference will provide an atmosphere for professionals and landowners to have solutions-oriented discussions about creating communities in Colorado that are adapted to wildfire. This year’s conference will expand on the Fire Adapted Communities concept, providing the framework for moving from awareness to action, messaging to mitigation, and words to work. This is a great opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise about reducing communities’ vulnerability to wildfire. The conference planning committee is looking for presentations that focus on innovative research influencing policy changes; case studies of overcoming barriers to planning and implementation; and success stories of on the ground actions to create Fire Adapted Communities. Submit your presentation proposals online HERE. Presentation proposals are due Friday, November 18, 2016 by 11:59 p.m.