Conference attendees will participate in roundtable charrettes* addressing river communities' needs, facilitated by Ed Freer of JJR, Madison, WI, with assistance from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Special programs also will be offered on environmental education. The conference will be held August 26-27, 2010 at the i-wireless Center, Moline, Illinois.

All Upper Mississippi River stakeholders are invited to attend.

*A charrette is a design and planning exercise involving real-time collaboration of citizens, professionals, public officials and experts from a diversity of disciplines and backgrounds focused on developing a solution to a proposed project. Project proposals selected as the topic of a charrette at the UMRC will be specific to a municipality, but will involve issues and challenges that are shared by other cities within the Mississippi River watershed.