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Lake Michigan Shorelands Alliance Announces Launch
of the Great Lake Gatherings
Contact Info:
Merri Oxley or Laurel Cavalluzzo
The Communication Team
(608)877-0528 or (608)663-9867
moxley@thecommunicationteam.net
Madison,
WI – August 5, 2008 – Six land trusts that are members
of the Lake Michigan Shorelands Alliance (LMSA) have announced
they are hosting four Great Lake Gatherings early this fall in
Wisconsin’s
Lake Michigan Basin in Green Bay, Mequon, Milwaukee and Sheboygan.
The Great Lake Gatherings are open public forums that will include
the mayors from Green Bay, Sheboygan, Mequon and Milwaukee, keynote
speakers and panel discussions.
The Gatherings are designed to
bring together community and economic development leaders, policy
makers, business owners, landowners and residents to discuss local
and regional land and water conservation priorities and encourage
new collaborative efforts to protect and preserve natural resources
in these areas. They will be urged to look to their local land
trusts as a resource to help them protect their community’s
land and water resources for future generations.
G. Tracy Mehan,
III, a principal in The Cadmus Group and former Assistant Administrator
for Water at the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, will be the
keynote speaker at both the Green Bay and Milwaukee Gatherings.
Mehan’s speech will focus on the need for cooperative, innovative
community solutions to the increasingly complicated problems facing
the Great Lakes' ecosystem.
Panel discussions at each Gathering
will be led by local land trust hosts who will share information
about lands already protected and creative partnerships responsible
for those conservation successes in their respective areas.
The
Gatherings are being hosted by six LMSA members: Northeast Wisconsin
Land Trust, Baird Creek Preservation Foundation, Glacial Lakes
Conservancy, Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, River Revitalization
Foundation and the Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy. The Gatherings
are also receiving support from Gathering Waters Conservancy, the
Joyce Foundation and local sponsors.
According to Michael Strigel, Executive Director
of Gathering Waters Conservancy, “we hope the discussions
at the Gatherings will spark a sense of optimism about what measures
people can take to protect our shared land and water resources.
We want to inspire attendees to work together in earnest and take
actions to protect their community’s special places.”
All attendees will receive a “toolkit” of
information and resources to inspire them to begin to implement
new conservation projects in their own backyards and in their communities.
The four
Great Lake Gatherings will be held in:
• Green
Bay: September 16,
UW-Green Bay
• Sheboygan
Area: October 1, Kohler Art Center
• Mequon: October
8, Mequon Nature Preserve
• Milwaukee: October
15, Milwaukee Art Museum
There is no charge to
attend and the Gatherings are open to the public. For more information
and registration, please visit: www.greatlakegatherings.org.
******
About Lake
Michigan Shorelands Alliance: The Lake
Michigan Shorelands Alliance (LMSA) is a collaborative group of land trusts working
to protect critical land and water resources in Wisconsin’s
Lake Michigan Basin. LMSA was formed in 2003 and has undertaken
strategic conservation planning for the Lake Michigan watershed.
The Alliance has identified eighteen Priority Conservation Sites,
four of which will be the focus of the Great Lake Gatherings.
About Gathering Waters Conservancy:
Gathering Waters Conservancy is a statewide service center for
Wisconsin’s land trust community and works to increase the
amount of protected land in the state through private voluntary
action. Gathering Waters strengthens Wisconsin’s private,
non-profit land trusts through consulting, public education and
policy advocacy. The Great Lake Gatherings are just one of Gathering
Waters’ conservation initiatives.
About the Joyce Foundation:
The Joyce Foundation supports efforts to protect the natural environment
of the Great Lakes, to reduce poverty and violence in the region,
and to ensure that its people have access to good schools, decent
jobs, and a diverse and thriving culture. Over the years the Foundation
has made grants of more than $600 million to groups working to
improve the quality of life in the Great Lakes region.
Contact:
Merri Oxley or Laurel Cavalluzzo
The Communication Team
(608)877-0528 or (608)663-9867
moxley@thecommunicationteam.net
Download
a PDF version of this press release »
Questions? Call Liz
Walsh at (608) 251-9131 x12 or email liz [at] gatheringwaters.org.
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