Greetings to members of Colorado's watershed community,

A volunteer steering committee of about a dozen people have been meeting monthly since the August Assembly to take the ideas generated at that meeting and move them ahead. We have scheduled a second Assembly, to be held Friday February 2, 2001 at the Keystone Center. It will be an all day meeting at which we will discuss a proposal for ways to make available a number of services identified at the Assembly and in our process as those most essential to support the efforts of Colorado's watershed community and an organizational structure for accomplishing this.

The list of services as presently identified follows:

• Organize and present annual watershed conference for Colorado's watershed community


• Listserv host/sponsor/maintainer for Colorado's watershed community


• Prepare and disseminate periodic newsletter for Colorado's watershed community


• Organize and present training workshops as needed


• Compile and maintain information about funding sources for watershed efforts


• Provide fundraising assistance to local watershed initiatives


• Provide facilitation assistance to local watershed initiatives


• Provide watershed planning assistance to local watershed initiatives


• Compile and maintain information about relevant Federal programs


• Compile and maintain information about relevant state programs


• Make available information about legislation/laws relevant to watershed efforts


• Provide strategic planning assistance to local watershed initiatives


• Provide assistance with membership outreach for local watershed initiatives


• Provide assistance in working with media for local watershed initiatives


• Work to educate the interested public about watersheds


• Provide water quality monitoring assistance to local watershed initiatives


• Help coordinate federal and state agency efforts related to watersheds


• Compile and maintain information about sources of technical assistance for watershed efforts

We have contacted about 20 nonprofits and agencies with an expressed watershed interest to determine whether they already provide one or more of these functions and whether they want to be actively involved in some kind of state-level watershed group. We hope to have a preliminary plan to discuss involving the manner in which these groups would participate in providing these services and how this could best be coordinated at the state level.

Please plan on coming to Keystone on February 2.

We will be in touch in another month or so with more details.

Best wishes,

Larry MacDonnell

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