Water Division

Since the formation of The Horinko Group, we have brought focus and creativity to environmental consulting. Our tools are innovation, strategic alliances, and established expertise grounded in public and private ventures. In a world where renewable and non-renewable resources are interconnected, we find ourselves at a juncture where it is necessary and prudent to expand our focus to a broader view in order to programmatically address the challenges of our water world. The Horinko Group's Water Division is our path forward.

Our View

Water is ubiquitous, serving as a common thread connecting all aspects of life.  As the planet's most precious natural resource, its quality and availability are core determinants of individual and community quality of life. However, water resource issues are typically regional, interjurisdictional, and dispersed. The challenges and actions needed to sustain our nation's water resources are geographically such that both federal and local attention is required and an integration of planning and regional governance across programs, sectors, and jurisdictions seems inevitable.

While we lack a national water policy, we have a number of national programs that can be better integrated and complimented by a strong grassroots stewardship ethic borne out of an effort to raise public water awareness and civic engagement so as to transform water users into water stewards.  As an interjurisdictional public good that must be appreciated and managed first as a public resource, protecting our water future will take stewardship from local, regional, state, and federal levels, in addition to promoting individual responsibility.

The Horinko Group believes in sustainability: a belief that our quality of life and the prosperity of our communities depend on our wise stewardship of our natural capital.  We believe that an inclusive leveraged or collaborative approach is critical for successful stewardship.

Like many others, we seek more effective collaborative models for success. Our niche is assisting with the creation and promotion of value-based collaborative relationship building that can be brought to scalable and replicable levels by the participating institutions. By identifying and connecting water achievers and demonstrating real results, we are uniquely equipped to facilitate effective collaboration and strategic alignment between public and private organizations committed to sustaining the quality and continued availability of our water resources.

Our Vision

Our vision is to promote water resources sustainability through effective and integrated water resource management. Through our support of institutions with the capacity to add real value to collaborative water ventures and with a commitment to connecting and aligning clients with a shared view of water resource sustainability, we are confident that we can build the case that effective integration is attainable. We feel strongly that the role of pathfinders in collaboration and partnering is critical to revealing the sustainable path forward.

Read further about the Pathfinder Concept - click here.

Our Path Forward

Consistent with its role as convener and connector, The Horinko Group's Water Division seeks to provide a new context for thinking and problem-solving through our professional development summits, executive salons, webinars, RSS feed, and monthly newsletter. We are committed to creating opportunities to bring a wide variety of perspectives into the water conversation. Through all of these tools, we closely examine watershed-based public and private initiatives through a systems framework. Participants are invited to increase their understanding of how best to empower organizations to effectively engage in water planning and decision-making.

Our goal is to create an environment for taking concepts to action. Our vision is to become a trusted platform to discuss, debate, and formulate effective models that communities and organizations can embrace that facilitate action.

Recommendations

Promoting The Sustainability of Our Nation's Water Resources

A Launching Device to Demonstrate Early Outcomes

Prepared By The Horinko Group
Final Release Date: January 2011

Securing Our Water Future

The Horinko Group’s Water Division and its partners have closely examined the imperative and opportunity to bring together programs that influence resource outputs on both private and public lands and waters. It is our belief that we are approaching a tipping point where collective water resource interests and concerns can gain traction and common direction, eventually culminating in a National Water Strategy and perhaps more importantly a commitment to scalable action and system outcomes.

In order to be functional and effective, a National Water Strategy for the United States must be founded on the principles of collaboration, civic engagement, and community-based grassroots recognition of the importance of source protection and control. A civic commitment must be fostered to move us into an era of resolve regarding the stewardship of our nation’s water resources. We must acknowledge the nexus of water, land, energy, and the economy, and the central role of this connection to the environmental health and economic future of our nation. Ultimately, water resources sustainability can only be attained if water quality and regional water availability are addressed in a manner that is measurable, effective, and holistic.

Integration of Water Resources Management – The Starting Point

Initially, an integrated framework of existing federal water resources management programs will need to be established. More often than not, federal resource managers are engaged in fragmented, yet overlapping, water practices and programs. Only by moving away from the current piecemeal, stove-piped approach can we ensure long-term water resources sustainability utilizing a federal platform that encourages civic, community, and corporate stewardship.

The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Congressional Science and Technology Committee, in collaboration with the Interstate Council on Water Policy, could provide a guiding hand in shaping the preliminary structure for achieving integration across the federal sector. A foundational piece of this structure is currently in place – the established Healthy Watersheds Initiatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

From this starting point, additional structure can be built out horizontally to fully incorporate other Federal programs, including the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These federal agencies would be greatly served, and be able to better serve, by advancing informed decision-making, utilizing scientific support from the federal laboratories, the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units, and major land grant universities. Community colleges could assist with educating the local community about water issues, while anchoring the effort to advance green technical job training at the community level.

This overall effort must recognize the importance of regional networks of governance to accomplish on-the-ground results, flexibility, and efficiency of an adaptive management systems approach. Therefore, a meaningful role should be established for communities and non-governmental agencies. Informed grassroots consensus on goals, both on establishment and methods of attainment, is critical. This level of consensus must reflect commonly held community values and aspirations promoting the stewardship of water and our aquatic ecosystems and its link to more livable communities. These goals and values must serve as the driver for community participation in near-term, output-driven results.

10 Actionable Objectives – Establishing a Foothold While Identifying the Path Forward

The following recommended 10 Actionable Objectives would utilize existing institutional frameworks as a launching point. Tackling near-term objectives that are measurable would build community and practitioner confidence. We believe the integration of these ten components could evolve into a system-based, regionally governed, integrated platform of stewardship.

• Water Resources Development Planning

  The White House’s CEQ is currently leading a benchmark update of the Principles and Guidelines utilized by USACE for Federal Water Resources Development planning. A federal standard could emerge that could be employed across the federal sector. New standards must better account for the social costs attendant to projects. Projects must be viewed in a system context and advance system values. Ecological services and sustaining the natural capital of aquatic ecosystems must be effectively accounted for and valuated.

• Integration of Federal Programs

  Active and immediate measures must be taken to ensure that all federal water programs are effectively integrated across the public sector. Discussion has occurred to select and anoint a single agency with primary governance of aquatic ecosystems. This effort would result in considerable pushback, confusion, and require significant retooling of current institutional arrangements at the federal level. By comparison, integrated water resource management with a commissioned approach to regional networked governance could mobilize earlier results without loss of current capabilities and expertise. Resource planning objectives should be measurable and not limited to traditional place-based actions, but rather promote system process-based approaches implemented within an adaptive management framework. Basin, sub-basin, and reach plans need strong federal and regional advocacy. Reach planning and project priorities cannot be set by special interest agendas advancing constituent and funder-friendly projects too often mislabeled as stewardship and restoration. In the future, plans must be informed by science, and designed for affordability, low maintenance, and long project life with outputs directly linked to scalable outcomes and a goal of system resilience.

• Establishment of Specific Authority

  Reauthorization of existing USACE Civil Works Water Resource Development Projects should be pursued, adding water quality and water supply to the currently authorized project purposes. Greater emphasis should be placed on water quality, shifting the public works focus from simple water quality compliance to water resource stewardship. A separate water supply authority could become a strong water availability mandate that repositions USACE to advance a more natural hydrologic condition. This authority would not limit itself to meeting the demand for industrial, agricultural, and municipal uses but would balance a consideration of water availability critical to maintaining system ecological services. Managing for water availability would further enable USACE to build on past experience with localized operational Environmental Management of navigational pools and flood control reservoirs and Corps stewardship of operational projects lands that can and do provide an important buffer function to foster greater protection of project waters and water capture by infiltration of permanent vegetative cover. Reauthorization with a focus on ecological services necessary to deliver water quality and quantity will encourage a beneficial shift in program emphasis favoring long-term water resources stewardship and ensure that USACE outputs achieve desirable system-based outcomes.

• Floodplain Management

  If we are going to revitalize our nation’s river systems, we must better protect the floodplain. USACE, FEMA and State Floodplain Managers are engaged in a dialogue to update and reenergize the spirit of Executive Order 11988 on Floodplain Management. Remaining undeveloped open space is the last line of defense for infiltration, flood storage, and forest recovery to support carbon sequestration and improve water quality while reducing losses due to recurrent flood damage. There must be an increased recognition of the importance of floodplain hydrology and land cover in overall river health.
  
  The benefits of traditional local flood protection works cannot outweigh the broader social cost attendant to incentivizing development in areas that are either flood prone and subject to recurrent losses or require significant annual operational commitments to maintain their state of flood protection and preparedness. We need to thoughtfully test past assumptions regarding public subsidy of federalized flood insurance when 95% of the continental United States lies above the 100-year floodplain. Public investment to push additional human development into the remaining 5% land base that makes up our important riparian stream corridors has to be seriously questioned and a moratorium on such activity considered. Our past uses of floodplains stands as a classic example of shortsighted, non-sustainable behavior.

• Recognition of the Importance of Federal Open Space Footprint

  Formal recognition of the valuable role that federally managed lands play in riparian corridors is necessary. Federal open space, in addition to state and local parks, provide significant economic benefit to waterside communities that are promoting nature-based tourism while also providing an important protected corridor of permanent vegetative cover and water quality buffer. An example can be found along the Upper Mississippi River (UMR). Federally owned floodplain tracts along the UMR, though fragmented, are managed principally by two federal agencies, the USACE and USFWS, exceeding 300,000 acres in fee title, much of which is forested. However, funds allocated to manage these public lands have been minimal and certainly not reflective of the important function they play in anchoring stewardship of the overall corridor.
  
  Lands management and stewardship efforts on these federal lands in the floodplain will ensure we maintain a baseline buffer of healthy floodplain forests and ecological return. A greater portion of floodplain terraces would benefit from reforestation to restore species diversity but also to increase infiltration. Efforts by FWS and USACE on public lands could be effectively integrated to USDA-NRCS Conservation Program improvements on adjacent private lands. This would create a foothold for integrated water resource management that begins with sound soil management promoting source control of non-point sources of water quality contaminants while also providing habitat and open space. Public lands stewardship should align with and support private lands programs, creating important incentives and opportunities for state and local government, NGOs, and private individuals to assist in efforts to reforest a greater portion of major floodplains.

• Farm Practices – New Incentives for Sustainability

  Historic agricultural practices and programs must be reexamined. The recently announced NRCS Healthy Watersheds Initiative and Farm Bill Program could present the agricultural industry and family farmer with a new generation of sustainable incentives that may prove workable for landowners. Traditional crop production in our floodplains should be reviewed and new farmer and taxpayer friendly outputs examined including nutrient farming to establish a market for water quality trading.

• Compliance Enforcement

  The USEPA and their regional and state counterparts must establish a stronger presence to achieve state water quality compliance to lessen the sources of water quality impairment. Strong federal leadership in data collection and monitoring, both on the quantitative and qualitative side, will be essential. A greater focus on nutrients in farm conservation programs and in the implementation of numeric criteria for water quality standards and permitting will also be a critical component. Watershed-based permitting should be considered to capture multiple environmental benefits as well as cost savings in both the rural and urban contexts. Targeting combined sewer overflows with storm retention, encouraging communities to invest in green infrastructure, and advancing catchment planning is imperative to the maintenance of regional water quality. By establishing effective incentives, existing enforcement programs can be expanded to address non-point sources of impairment, while simultaneously providing pollutant reduction incentives.

• Civic Engagement and General Water Awareness – Moving Beyond Public Involvement

  There must be an elevation of the popular awareness of water resources functions, values, and concerns. An earnest campaign of civic engagement and social learning must be aggressively pursued to expand the water conversation and improve watershed literacy. As more individuals and interest groups join the water conversation, a commitment should be made to ensure they can effectively contribute and inform the conversation. Likewise, our leaders need to become more water wise. Communities must move beyond the role of water users and become informed water stewards.
  
  Social capital, as it applies to water stewardship and individual and civic responsibility for our common water future, are under-appreciated in their importance. This effort should extend to bringing a water resources curriculum into our schools to foster next generation water leadership at the community level. Such a curriculum should be vetted, piloted, and marketed to school administrators. The curriculum could foster improved math and science literacy and encourage pursuit of engineering and science careers making our students more competitive, our communities stronger, and the next generation more sustainably focused.

• Community Livability and Grassroots Water Leadership

  Thoughtful consideration must be given to the role that trusted community institutions and leaders can play in presenting the water story in a socially relevant context. A sustainability network of river basin community colleges could be established to support green job training around the protection and management of our water assets. A large iconic system like the Mississippi River Basin could present a great starting place to test drive and refine this approach. It is recommended that a community college network be linked to major land grant universities in river bordering states, and then further linked to the Great Rivers, Great Lakes, and Gulf Coastal Cooperative Environmental Study Units, and Federal water resource professionals. This group could make a major contribution toward bringing the principles of a healthy watershed and a grassroots perspective to bear on building more livable communities that in turn could promote communities reconnecting with their water resources in more resource compatible ways. State universities should build on such efforts by encouraging students to pursue science and engineering degrees to further advance national excellence in these highly sought-after fields.

• Realizing the Potential of Our Nation’s Water Systems as Travel Destinations

  We should endeavor to make our nation’s aquatic ecosystems iconic destinations for nature-based, resource compatible tourism. Establishing and promoting gateways to water-based outdoor experiences can at once build a greater appreciation for the cultural and natural heritage of our natural water features, while also creating a greater sense of place among the people who live closest to major water features and have perhaps the most vested in securing their future. We should give more thoughtful consideration to the role that campaigns like the Discover America Partnership could have toward this end, while working closely with the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, the Department of Commerce, and the Businesses for Diplomatic Action Initiative to establish and promote water-based destinations for foreign travel. The Department of Commerce should be more actionably positioned to assist local communities to establish and market their waterside communities within a consolidated, regional approach. Expertise in destination marketing and brand building must be offered to reestablish America’s brand as a leisure travel destination. Water-based leisure travel experiences are highly sought after by domestic and international travelers. Communities should be provided with informational tools that educate their citizens on the value of tourism as an alternative economic base.
  
  It is recommended that a hearing overseen by the Congressional Committee on Science and Technology and the Tourism Caucus be conducted to gain stakeholder and water resource practitioner input in bringing this discussion forward to actionable recommendations.

Sustaining the Natural Capital of Our Aquatic Ecosystems – The End Game

Over the past twenty-five years, much deliberation has taken place to sustain the natural capital of our water resources, resulting in a growing list of regional expressions of restoration, reclamation, and rehabilitation. Too often, these efforts are placed-based rather than natural process-based. Because of the work of dedicated water professionals, we now have a better understanding about what works and what does not, further reinforcing the importance of replicability, scalability, and resilience. However, sufficient attention to performance analysis continues to be sorely lacking. Many of the outputs have not contributed to scalable outcomes. Efforts have been fragmented, without recognition of cumulative effects, bearing extraordinary capital and operational costs that produce local outcomes that are not sustainable.

While these project outputs have provided important opportunities for collaboration, public awareness, and lessons learned, we now must take the next step to harness this information and apply it in a systems-wide context with a programmatic approach to interjurisdictional stewardship. Individual project planning must transition into thoughtful reach planning, employed using principles of adaptive management and adhering to long-term stewardship objectives. Only when incremental efforts are undertaken that are system-based and informed by sound science, performance analysis, and implemented with an adaptive management approach will our best efforts on behalf of our nation’s water resources and their recovery and sustainability gain a lasting foothold.

Thoughtful recognition must be given to the economic driver that eco-based tourism offers in rural landscapes and waterside communities. As more international and domestic leisure travelers seek heart-healthy, nature-based recreational destinations, the nation’s waterside communities are emerging as significant travel destinations, and an economic engine of community revitalization. Redirection of funding priorities within many federal programs could immediately aid in rebuilding America’s brand as a travel destination.

A civic engagement process that reaches deep into watershed communities to inform and engage the citizenry should be developed to enrich the water resource conversation and ensure grassroots ownership of the entire undertaking. Only through community education, public support, and a public watershed awareness campaign will sustainable outcomes be assured.

America is a maritime nation. Our lakes, rivers, bays, and estuaries are national assets and should be afforded respect and proper stewardship. We are well into the 21st century and have yet to advance a popular dialogue on the importance of a strong water future founded on a basic understanding of what is needed, what is sustainable, and the sequencing of a sustainable response.

There are many voices joining the water conversation, and the federal government should assume a leadership role in fostering this civic spirit and dialogue. Nothing could be more timely than beginning a sustained effort to thoughtfully steward our nation’s water resources.

Download a printable copy of The Horinko Group's Water Resources Recommendations (PDF)

Pathfinders - Blazing the Trail

Background

Arriving at a National Water Strategy that successfully integrates water resource management across water sectors and watersheds will benefit greatly in the beginning by accounting for the contribution and role of local communities and private-public partnerships.

A thoughtful assessment and understanding of the successes and setbacks of collaborative pathfinders at the federal level, the community level, and in the private sector can reveal much about the path ahead. The lessons being learned in partnering at the community level must interface with the federal experience to ensure the processes are nuanced to account for the complexities in relationship building toward common direction, goal congruence, and effective outcomes.

We define the term pathfinder as "an individual or institution participating in a collaborative group that displays a unique ability to bring the group through stalemates, overcome barriers, find common ground, and generally be the difference leading to collaborative success...to find the path ahead."

Waterside Places Begin the Journey

In the public sector, communities located near iconic water features have the advantage of a strong and long-standing water heritage, a fundamental connection to indigenous water resources, and grassroots experience with water outputs. A few have demonstrated a dedication to advancing sustainable balance in the interaction between humans and water. Synergy is created when there is balance, but balanced benefits for environmental, social, and economic good are not happening everywhere. Often the advances are subtle and difficult to detect without close examination, but community-based centers of water excellence are indeed emerging and can be examined.

Likewise at the federal level, agencies with water-centric missions and responsibilities are being challenged to test traditional assumptions about interjurisdictional collaboration in order to produce water outputs that are scalable, replicable, and demonstrable, producing measurable and cumulative results at the system level for the good of the whole. Specific programs and projects undertaken with a strong federal presence are making headway. The federal sector is seeking effective and timely ways to leverage resources, build shared ownership, and seek alignment and integration with multiple players operating at local, state, and regional levels to integrate efforts across water sectors, to achieve sustainable outputs, and to shape a sustainable path forward for aquatic ecosystems.

Much of the Leadership that is bringing Federal and local institutions together effectively is happening with a bottom-up approach rooted at the local level and led by individuals or institutions with experience in value based collaborative enterprise.

Revealing Community Water Leaders

Water success stories across local, regional, and national levels in and across watersheds are ongoing and iterative. As we take a closer look, a number of common determinants emerge, including past experience, a high level of inter-organizational trust, reliance, open and regular communication, flexibility, a shared vision, adequate resources, early success, and an acceptable pace toward realizing outputs. Furthermore, we have seen much of this success tied back to local community water leaders that emerge as difference makers or what we refer to as "pathfinders."

Pathfinders become even more vital to the success of an endeavor when considering the wide variety of setbacks that often arise. For example, a certain amount of inertia is typical as new collaborators are folded in. Stops and starts can occur when strategic direction is refined and when divergent interests are considered. These critical points in the journey are opportunities for pathfinders to challenge institutional barriers and ineffective traditional approaches and develop innovative solutions.

The Horinko Group's Water Division is committed to recognizing and assisting local community-level water leaders or pathfinders in getting started and realizing repeated success. By connecting these individuals and institutions with the right mix of public and private partners, greater and timelier collaborative results will be achieved. Our group is committed to becoming a catalyst for creating this interaction, documenting and sharing our lessons learned throughout a number of watersheds and focusing on replicable, scalable results.

Annual Summit

The Horinko Group has distinguished itself as an organization that connects the dots: people to people, people to ideas, and ideas to action for practical results infused with values for sustainability. Consistent with its role as convener and connector, The Horinko Group's Water Division hosts an annual summit to closely examine watershed-based public and private initiatives through a systems perspective. Participants are invited to increase their understanding of how best to empower organizations to more effectively engage in water planning and decision-making.
 

Water Resources Summit 2011

Sustaining Our Nation's Water Resources:
Answering the Call for Stewardship

October 25, 2011
The University of Maryland at College Park

Three sectors played a pivotal role in setting the tone – the public sector, the advocacy sector, and the business sector. We welcomed a distinguished lineup of prominent actors in each of these sectors to discuss and reveal recent gains to better integrate and innovate. Our goal for this daylong series of panels was to establish a mark for what's taking place today and what's being planned for tomorrow. The summit served as an important conversation for anyone currently operating in the water world.

For more information about the 2011 Summit including photos from the summit, summit remarks and proceedings, downloadable presentations, and a printable agenda, visit the Summit Website at 2011summit.thehorinkogroup.org.

View 2011 Summit Program (PDF)

View 2011 Summit Proceedings (PDF)

Water Resources Summit 2010

Sustaining Our Water Resources Through Collaboration:
A Summit Connecting Water Leaders Across Watersheds

April 13, 2010
Washington, DC

Nearly seventy leaders from public, non-profit, and private-sector water organizations gathered at The Horinko Group's offices in Washington, DC to hear about ways that these entities are collaborating to promote sustainable outcomes for water. Case studies about collaborative efforts on iconic water systems, including the Chesapeake Bay and the Mississippi River, as well as examples fostered by the federal government (the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency) were presented to provide examples of public-private partnerships that can serve as collaborative models and exemplars. The general tone of the discussion addressed challenges in policy and governance in sustaining our water resources and accounted for the role that communities and individual civic responsibility will play in the future. The Horinko Group convened this summit to further the conversation about ways to enhance the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the nation's water resources, collaboratively.

We believe success on our nation's great water systems is dependent on a shared vision and an integrated water resource management approach. More importantly, sustainable success will only be effectively realized through collaboration, strategic communication, and social networking. Partnerships must be relationship- and values-based, not simply a cost-shared enterprise. Social capital and its effective use will drive watershed-based efforts to system sustainability.

View 2010 Summit Program (PDF)

View 2010 Summit Proceedings (PDF)

Summit Resources

As part of our outreach for our annual summits, we provide links to downloadable summit materials and resources. Below is a list of downloadable handouts, presentations, proceedings, and slideshows from our 2011 Water Resources Summit. Please note the panel presentations are relatively large and in ZIP format.

• 2011 Summit Proceedings (PDF)

• 2011 Summit Program (PDF)

• 2011 Summit Partners Slideshow (PDF)

• Summit Luncheon Presentation (ZIP)

• 2011 Panel Presentations

  • Water Governance (ZIP)

  • Water Advocacy (ZIP)

  • Business of Water (ZIP)

• 2010 Summit Program (PDF)

• 2010 Summit Proceedings (PDF)

Water Resource Pathfinders

As a highly committed champion for collaboration, The Horinko Group is currently partnering with a number of pathfinders to overcome challenges and seize opportunities. Our Water Division also provides staff resources to support a number of important pathfinding initiatives.

To nominate a pathfinder in your own community/region, please click here.

Collaborative Clients and Partners

The Northeast-Midwest Institute

Contact:
Mark Gorman
Policy Analyst
Northeast-Midwest Institute
mgorman@nemw.org

The Northeast-Midwest Institute is a Washington-based, private, non-profit, and non-partisan research organization dedicated to economic vitality, environmental quality, and regional equity for Northeast and Midwest states. Formed in the mid-1970's, it fulfills its mission by conducting research and analysis, developing and advancing innovative policy, providing evaluation of key federal programs, disseminating information, and highlighting sound economic and environmental technologies and practices.

The Institute is closely tied to legislative affairs through the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions, which work to advance federal policies that enhance the region's economy and environment. The Principals of The Horinko Group have longstanding collegial relationships with the executive leadership of the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center

Contact:
Tonya Genovese
Environmental Communications Liason
National Great Rivers Research and Education Center
tgenoves@lc.edu

The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) is a unique partnership of the University of Illinois, Lewis & Clark Community College, and the Illinois Natural History Survey. A major goal of this partnership is to provide research facilities for riverine science comparable to those provided by the Woods Hole and Scripps oceanographic institutes for marine science. The research and education programs at the center support NGRREC's mission of increasing our understanding of big rivers, their watersheds and floodplains, and the interaction between the rivers and their human, plant, and animal communities. The Center is strategically located near the confluence of three great rivers: the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois. The close proximity of three rivers of this magnitude is unique in the world and offers an ideal location for big river research.

With collaboration at the core of its values, the NGGREC has worked to establish partnerships with many different organizations. In addition to local and community interest groups like the Great Rivers Land Trust, the Center also partners with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Audubon, the Meeting of the Rivers Foundation, and Southern University at Baton Rouge on various projects and programs.

America's Waterway

Contact:
Anne Lewis
Founder
America's Waterway
alewis@americaswaterway.org

America's Waterway engages Mississippi River residents - experts, as well as people who just love the River - to form a constituency for the whole river and leverage that social capital on the river’s behalf. Their goal is to provide tools for civic engagement so stakeholders can create new approaches to the Mississippi’s environmental, cultural and development issues. Their premise is technology and a proven deliberative-democracy process. Residents from a variety of Mississippi River locations can be tapped on a scale large enough to address the whole Mississippi River as a system. And, from there, Mississippi River stakeholders can expand into a Mississippi River constituency that overcomes geographic and jurisdictional boundaries to support a civic agenda for America's Waterway.

While most river organizations start with an agenda and try to leverage support for it, America’s Waterway starts with a civic engagement process and the belief that Mississippi River residents are the platform for the process. That natural constituency - when equipped through a civic engagement process and armed as an online community - will develop the policy solutions that will work for the future of America’s Waterway. And, as a whole river constituency, they will have the political will and determination to advocate for solutions that address the river as a whole.

Lewis & Clark Community College

Contact:
Marcia Lochmann
Director of Sustainability
mlochmann@lc.edu

Lewis & Clark is a two-year community college located in Godfrey, Illinois, approximately 30 miles north of St. Louis.  As a leading educational institution with an annual enrollment of more than 13,000 students, Lewis & Clark trains the region's workforce, giving employees the skills they need to remain competitive and be successful.

Taking advantage of its ideal location at the convergence of three major rivers - the Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois - Lewis & Clark has joined forces with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Natural History Survey to form the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. As one of the only community colleges with a research mission, Lewis & Clark now stands on the forefront of environmental research, which means their students have access to unique internships and expanded course offerings.

The Wildlife Habitat Council

Contact:
whc@wildlifehc.org

The Wildlife Habitat Council is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) group of corporations, conservation organizations, and individuals dedicated to restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat. Created in 1988, WHC helps large landowners, particularly corporations, manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner for the benefit of wildlife.

More than two million acres in 48 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other countries are managed for wildlife through WHC-assisted projects. The Horinko Group is pursuing the opportunity to partner with the Wildlife Habitat Council to co-facilitate an industry group focused on redeveloping brownfields using new methods alternative energy and habitat restoration.

Contributed Staff Time and Technical Support

The National Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway

Contact:
Brett Stawar
Board Chairperson
Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway
bstawar@visitalton.com

The Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway features 33 miles of national significance where the Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi rivers converge.  Rich stories of historic, natural, scenic, cultural and archeological events and attractions blend seamlessly with abundant outdoor recreation opportunities through a mix of state, federal and local venues.  Thousands of visitors flock to the confluence of America's great rivers annually to enjoy the byway and its beauty during every season of the year.  The striking scenery complements hundreds of activities and festivals each year.  Visitors to the region even played a role in selecting the byway as one of the "Seven Wonders of Illinois" through a competitive campaign produced by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism.

This story does not happen by accident.  The byway communities of Hartford, Wood River, Alton, Godfrey, Elsah, and Grafton Illinois band together to form the official byway council that continue to evolve the movement that received national and state designation as a scenic byway.  Also with an official seat at the 11-member council, the byway involves Madison County, Jersey County and the Great Rivers Land Trust/Alton Lake Heritage Parkway Commission and Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau.  As the byway progresses and the landscape changes, plans for the byway have changed as well.  The council worked with approximately 75 different federal, state and local organizations with vested interests in the byway and its purpose to update its Corridor Management Plan (PDF) in 2007.  Currently, the byway is going through an interpretive planning process with the goal to identify the byway visitor, solidify the overarching themes of the byway, outline the stories found along the byway, and enhance the visitor experience as they travel the route.

The byway and its partners will continue to organize and enhance the efforts to champion economic development, preservation and conservation as a roadmap for the future of this region.  Since its inception in 1997, the byway has been responsible for achieving approximately $4 million in local development and enhancements to visitor amenities along the route.  The remaining chapters of this byway movement are unwritten, but continue to unfold with its newest attraction opening this spring as the Lewis & Clark Confluence Tower in Hartford, Illinois.  The Tower will serve as a major gateway for travelers to learn more about the byway and experience breathtaking views of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers confluence.

The Audubon Center at Riverlands

Contact:
Patricia Hagen, PhD
Executive Director
The Audubon Center at Riverlands
phagen@audubon.org

The Audubon Center at Riverlands in St. Louis will combine the strength of Audubon with the support of local partners to connect people with the power, beauty, and natural diversity of our nation's greatest river - the Mississippi.  The Center will be part of a unique network of Audubon Centers nationwide.  It will be located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and will present education, outreach, and tourism programs focused on the great rivers.  Since the Mississippi River is one of the most important migratory flyways on earth, the Center's location at the great rivers' confluence will present ample and compelling opportunities to employ Audubon's century of experience in using birds to connect people to their natural heritage.

Hands-on, experiential learning will provide the framework for the Center's educational offerings. Some of the Center's offerings will include riverboat voyages, kayaking and canoeing experiences, a land- and water- based birding trail, and other riverside activities dedicated to conservation of the big rivers and their wildlife habitats. Connecting the people of the St. Louis region as well as regional visitors to their great rivers will also help to promote policy for a healthy Mississippi River - from headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.

Audubon is proud to work with many agencies and governmental organizations in its efforts to establish the Audubon Center at Riverlands.  Audubon's primary partner in the development of The Audubon Center at Riverlands is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Audubon and the Corps entered into a national Memorandum of Agreement for their collaborative efforts to restore wildlife habitat, establish educational programs, and institute strategic planning to address conservation concerns.

The education and visitor orientation center being constructed by the Corps at Riverlands will be optimized by partnering in order to leverage resources, expertise, and heighten visitor's experiences.  Collaborative, pilot programming has already begun with the two partners, as well as with other regional partners.

To view an artist rendering of The Audubon Center at Riverlands - click here (PDF).

Meeting of the Rivers Foundation

Contact:
mtrf@mtrf.org

The Meeting of the Rivers Foundation has been active for over a decade and six years have passed since the official opening of the National Great Rivers Museum. The museum is adjacent to the Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton, Illinois, and the Foundation shares the responsibility for public support of the Museum with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is responsible for the day-to-day operation and management of the Museum, while the Foundation serves to provide high quality education and interpretive experiences that advance public awareness and understanding of great rivers issues, and thereby promote and inspire greater public and private stewardship and active involvement in the protection, preservation, and sustainable use of our river environments.

The last six years have been witness to steady growth in visitor traffic and significant progress in building awareness and understanding of the importance of our great rivers. We can all be proud of this facility, but especially of the many volunteers, partners, and local citizens who have labored so intensely over the years to realize the original dream of this fantastic community asset.

St. Louis Confluence Riverkeeper

Contact:
Mike Bush
St. Louis Confluence Riverkeeper
stlriverkeeper@sbcglobal.net

The St. Louis Confluence Riverkeeper (SLCR) was formed in June 2008. SLCR is part of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an association of more than 190 Waterkeepers worldwide. Located in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area where three great rivers come together - the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers - SLCR works to enhance the water quality of those important waterways. Testing area waters on a regular basis, providing educational information about the rivers, raising awareness of our water resources, and acting as a strong advocate for excellent water quality are day-to-day components of its mission.

A 12 person Board of Directors made up of members of environmental groups, local industry, the towing industry, water resource professionals, scientists, and other community leaders govern SLCR. Their goal is to be inclusive, collaborative, and results-focused. SLCR is proud to participate in various annual water-based outreach events that call out the multiple values and services that healthy rivers can provide. These include a migratory water birds event sponsored by the by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Audubon, a Water Festival for middle school children on the campus of a Lewis & Clark Community College, and a Towboat festival to raise awareness on our inner coastal maritime heritage.

While the challenges may seem large, the desire to improve the water quality at the confluence of these three great rivers and the collaborative spirit of SLCR is what keeps the group going.

Rivervision Leadership Project

Contact:
Patricia Hagen, PhD
phagen@audubon.org

The Rivervision Leadership Project, under the direction of Audubon Missouri and Dr. Patty Hagen, engages students throughout the Crossroads College Preparatory School student body in environmental leadership activities focused on the Mississippi River.  Students are exposed to a wide variety of water stewardship and water management issues associated with the River.  Students visit with environmental groups, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the Metropolitan Sewer District, farm associations, the barge industry, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and others.  Students also use a successful conservation project regarding the federally endangered interior least tern as a metaphor for many complex river issues.  A culminating project associated with this effort is the students' work in recommending habitat preservation and restoration solutions for the interior least tern into the future - a complicated problem that will incorporate many river issues they will have discussed.

Water Resources Action Project

Contact:
Robert Cole
Board Member
Bob.Cole@alston.com

The recently formed Water Resources Action Project (WRAP) is a DC-based, not-for-profit organization whose goal is to improve water quality for under-served communities in the Middle East. WRAP’s approach is technical and operational, with an emphasis on practical means to improve public health and the quality of life. The membership is drawn from a broad range of political, ethnic, and religious backgrounds operating with strict political, ethnic and religious neutrality.

The group is currently finalizing the technical specifications for its initial pilot project, a rain collection unit at Sur Bahr Girls School in East Jerusalem. Completion for the pilot is scheduled for Spring 2011.

The Horinko Group's President Marianne Horinko serves as Chair of the Board and Brendan McGinnis, Water Resources Team Leader, provides technical oversight of project implementation.

Water Salons

Too often, interested individuals gather to discuss a seemingly complex or intractable problem with some of the pieces missing: the unique subject matter experts, the focused agenda, the creative thinker, a sufficient amount of time, the incentives to take a perception of a situation to the point where action can be taken concertedly toward resolution, or at least sensible next steps toward an actionable outcome.

This comfortable setting infused with the right amount of preparatory work is necessary to ground an enriching and productive exchange. The Horinko Group will create this setting for success by hosting what we refer to as a Water Salon - a targeted group convened to examine the complexities of water in ways that foster the energy for practical problem solving and innovation. With subject matter experts lending their diverse perspectives, a facilitator to keep the group on target, the use of collaboration tools, and a summary of the proceedings to capture insights and new ideas, we will ensure this roundtable discussion drives towards solutions and approaches for an actionable path forward.

How a Water Salon Works

As host for the discussion, The Horinko Group will set the context for a lively discussion with a process deliberately designed for success that includes the following elements:

• Systems approach to problem solving

  Formulate a preliminary problem or opportunity statement within a systems context, identifying key elements, key stakeholders, and desired objectives. The output will be a proposed set of interdependent variables, how they relate, and key individuals who can shed light on the topic who should be invited to the Water Salon.

• Well-designed meeting agenda and process

  Clarify the objective(s) of the Water Salon, provide a flow of activities during the Salon, and enable the client and meeting planners to identify things that can go wrong and things that should go right so as to develop plans to ensure success and build contingencies against failure.

• Enable groups to discover visions through a shared vision of success

  Use of tools to build common understanding of a problem as a system of shared values and interdependent elements can promote deeper understanding of the real problem, potential solutions, and criteria for success.

• Convene a variety of sectors and groups to the table

  Multiple perspectives and new insights can be gained through a diverse group of stakeholders. Creative problem solving is enhanced when "outliers" enter the discussion with non-traditional questions and perspectives and when time is allocated for opportunities to challenge assumptions.

• Fosters insight by providing time for reflection

  The constant pressure to find solutions, accompanied by the busy schedules of executives and decision-makers, result in quick resolutions that do not always take into account all the underlying factors. Setting aside time to reflect can open thinking space and reveal new ideas and understandings.

• Document discussion highlights

  Summary of the salon discussion in terms of the iteration of problem statements, key ideas, points of agreement, potential solutions, and a proposed Action Plan. The proceedings will provide a vehicle for sharing discussion highlights and thinking with others to enhance solutions and approaches even more.

To Attend/Sponsor

If you or your organization would like to participate in a current salon we have scheduled, or if there is a topic of interest that you feel warrants a Water Salon focus, please contact Brendan McGinnis at bmcginnis@thehorinkogroup.org.

Sponsorship opportunities are available - read more (PDF).

2011 Water Salon Series - click here

Salon Series

2011 Water Salon Series

• May 23, 2011 Report Released: "The Next Farm Bill: New Opportunities for Environmental and Agricultural Sustainability"

  The Northeast-Midwest Institute and The Horinko Group have completed the first phase of what could potentially evolve into a multiphase effort to develop a sustainable, mutual working relationship among agricultural and conservation stakeholders who have not traditionally collaborated on Farm Bill-related issues. The two organizations launched a scoping project this spring to: (1) forge a better understanding among representatives of the environmental and farming communities with respect to their Farm Bill interests; (2) understand and help improve the level of trust among those parties; and (3) develop a consensus centered upon common 2012 Farm Bill interests (which could then productively inform the legislative Farm Bill debate).

  The preliminary scoping phase of the project and its outcomes are described in a May 23 report, which concludes that an opportunity exists within which agricultural and conservation parties can negotiate Farm Bill issues productively – if those negotiations are conducted within an interest-based atmosphere. Specifically, there exist at least 17 Farm Bill-related issue areas on which substantial progress toward meeting common interests might be realized. And there appears to be a “critical mass” of enough parties, representing a diverse enough suite of Farm Bill stakeholders, that successful interest-based negotiations can proceed.

  The report, entitled "The Next Farm Bill: New Opportunities for Environmental and Agricultural Sustainability," can be read or downloaded in its entirety (as a PDF file). Recommendations are offered to help facilitate a successful outcome to any subsequent negotiation phases.
  
  Click here to download "The Next Farm Bill: New Opportunities for Environmental and Agricultural Sustainability" (PDF)

  The Next Farm Bill: New Opportunities for Environmental and Agricultural Sustainability

  Keynote address by Ann Mills, Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture
  Moderated by Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst, Northeast-Midwest Institute
  March 15, 2011
  Washington, DC

  In partnership with The Northeast-Midwest Institute, The Horinko Group convened the first of its 2011 Salon Series to discuss the “Farm Bill,” a compilation of legislation passed to enhance agricultural productivity and conservation on private lands. With ongoing congressional hearings and discussions regarding that next (2012) Farm Bill, there is a growing conviction in Washington among a variety of interest groups, including members of the US Congress, that the next Farm Bill will very likely be fundamentally different than its predecessors. This is due, in part, to two contributing factors: first, the farm bill will face what is expected to be a tight Federal budget, and, second, there is an ever-increasing demand for funding provided through the Farm Bill’s nutrition and conservation programs.

  This salon explored the history of the Farm Bill and covered the current realities surrounding our nation’s agricultural subsidy and conservation programs. Programs highlighted include the USDA’s Healthy Watersheds Initiative, as well as complimentary efforts underway within the public and private sectors. The culmination of these many efforts may present the agricultural industry and family farmer with a sustainable path forward that proves workable for landowners.

  Click here to download the March 15, 2011 Farm Bill Salon Proceedings (PDF)

2010 Water Salon Series

• Engaging the Public for River Sustainability and Livable Communities

  Special Guests: Anne Lewis, Founder, America's Waterway;
  Todd Ambs, President, River Network
  Theo Brown, Senior Associate, AmericaSpeaks
  October 25, 2010
  Hosted at The National Great Rivers Museum at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam
  Alton, IL

  This third Water Salon, held along the iconic Mississippi River, continued the exploration of civic engagement as a means for river sustainability and livable communities. Because they offer multi-level decision-making and shared-visioning capabilities, various public engagement approaches allow for and build on the complexity of issues and values. Perhaps more importantly, this developing body of knowledge offers ways to address whole water systems, eliminating cost and geographic barriers that restricted past decision-making.

  An increasing number of basic principles about civic engagement are being recognized and applied as benchmarks for effective, scientifically defensible outcomes. Innovative leaders in the field are growing the understanding of the necessary elements, while making inroads with models that can be applied to rivers and other water systems. This Salon focused on the lessons learned thus far and explore their application to whole water systems for the future.

  Click here to download the October 25, 2010 Water Salon Summary (PDF)

• Addressing Water Issues and Finding Common Direction through a Social Capital Framework

  Special Guest: Dr. Stephen P. Gasteyer, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Michigan State University
  August 31, 2010
  Washington, DC

  The Horinko Group's Water Division hosted the second installment in the 2010 Water Salon Series with an exploration of a new model for assessing system water issues through a "social capital" framework. Dr. Stephen P. Gasteyer, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University offered a framework for sustainable and secure water resources management. In his article entitled "Building Bridges: Community-based Social Networks for Sustainable and Secure Water Management" (published in the Water Resources Update by the Universities Council on Water Resources, Issue 127, February 24, 2004, pp. 31-40), Dr. Gasteyer touches on the power of social networking and the value of two variables in a systems model - Human Capital and Social Capital - in addition to Natural Capital and Financial/Built Capital.

  The Water Salon discussed how this model could be applied to analyze water problems and needs and guide efforts for civic engagement and improving popular water resource awareness. In his presentation, Dr. Gasteyer addressed how social capital can be used to raise awareness and advocacy for water resources issues and problem-solving approaches, as well as the resources available to do so.

  Click here to download the August 31, 2010 Water Salon Summary (PDF)

  Click here to download Dr. Gasteyer’s PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)

• Water Managers and Decision Makers: Searching for Synergy

  Special Guest: Dr. Gerald E. Galloway, retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Brigadier General
  Summary and Synthesis
  Water Salon Series Part I
  June 15, 2010
  Washington, DC

  The Horinko Group’s Water Division launched its Water Salon series on June 15, 2010 to provide a venue for reflective and non-attribution discussion among executives and engaged practitioners about critical water issues.

  Dr. Gerald E. Galloway, Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineers at the University of Maryland and a retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers general presented the cross-cutting issue of the “Dilemma of the Water Box,” a concept he contributed to in “Getting Out of the Box – Linking Water Decisions for Sustainable Development,” from the United Nations document, Water in a Changing World. This dilemma describes water professionals as often times being “inside the box,” disconnected from decision-makers who are outside the box and yet who make or influence decisions regarding the allocation of human and financial resources necessary to meet water challenges.

  Click here to download June 15, 2010 Water Salon Summary (PDF)

  Click here to download Dr. Galloway’s PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)

Client Support

The need and value for collaboration has never been more acutely evident than with water and our stewardship of our nation's water resources. Our extended team of water resource professionals understand the value of relationships and the importance of effective collaboration in making real progress in tackling tough water challenges and seizing unique water opportunities.

We bring together practitioners with years of collaborative experience to help our clients and partners achieve success. We are committed to being at the forefront of making partnerships work and securing our water future. A few of the value added services we provide:

• Assist community leaders and local institutions to have a voice and place at the table in regional water conversations.
• Build important brand awareness for those institutions adding value and capacity to the effort to tackle key water issues and challenges.
• Assist collaborative groups and communities of practice overcome institutional barriers.
• Support worthwhile collaborative efforts achieve scalable momentum to add true value to the watersheds they are working in.
• Connect the dots by locating and matching water partners with shared values for leveraged and marketable success.
• Assist water clients to recognize trends and change drivers that are reshaping our relationship with water and each other.
• Ongoing cooperation with federal and state program managers to raise stakeholder awareness of programs that are providing incentives for sustainable practices.
• Serve as a convener and translator to help organizational cultures overcome cultural differences to foster a shared sense of purpose and a common language of cooperation.

The Horinko Group Water Team is dedicated to bringing the water conversation to the national mainstream and encouraging civic engagement to foster participation and inclusion in all things water. We want you to succeed with measureable and replicable results.

Water Resources

Webinars

Upcoming Webinars

"Agricultural Water Usage: Trends, Indicators, and What It All Means"
February 16, 2012

Past Webinars

"Family Farms, Rural Landscapes, and the Farm Bill"
January 18, 2012

"Marine and Hydrokinetic Environmental Research Webinar Series: Acoustic Impacts"
December 14, 2011

"Greening Local Codes and Ordinances: Updating Codes to Cultivate Green Infrastructure and Foster Sustainable Stormwater Management"
December 13, 2011

"Clean Water Act Following Rapanos: Clear as Mud?"
July 27, 2011

"The State of Flood Risk Reduction in the United States"
May 4, 2011

"Cities and the Global Water Crisis: Managing a Vital Resource "
Part of the Sustainable Cities Collective Webinar Series
March 22, 2011 | 1 PM ET/10 AM PT

"Positioning Waterside Communities as Tourism Gateways to America's Great Outdoors"
January 19, 2011

"Raising Water Resource Awareness and Engaging Next Generation Water Leaders"
November 16, 2010

"Civic Engagement for Rivers"
October 20, 2010

"Bottomland Ecosystem Restoration"
September 16, 2010

Events

Upcoming Events

• AWWA's 2012 Sustainable Water Management Conference
  March 18 - 21, 2012
  Portland, Oregon

• USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum 2012
  February 23 - 24, 2012
  Arlington, Virginia

• 2012 North American River Management Symposium
  April 24 - 26, 2012
  Asheville, North Carolina

Recent Events

• The Horinko Group's Second Annual Water Resources Summit
  October 25, 2011
  College Park, Maryland

Visit our archive of Past Events

Resources

Andrew Manar Named Senior Advisor for Public-Private Partnerships

January 4, 2012
Press Release from The Horinko Group

Jennifer Frazier Joins THG Extended Team

January 3, 2012
Press Release from The Horinko Group

The Path Forward via Partnerships and a Stewardship Ethic

November 2011
Synopsis of The Horinko Group's October 25, 2011 Water Summit
Authored by: Donna Ayres, Senior Advisor, Group

Water Advocacy Panel Remarks from the 2011 Summit

October 2011
Authored by: Patrick McGinnis, Water Division Team Leader, The Horinko Group

Opening and Closing Remarks from the 2011 Summit

October 2011
Deliverd by: Brendan McGinnis, Director, Water Division, The Horinko Group

The Business of Water

October 2011
Source: The BNA Daily Environment Report - October 19, 2011
Authored by: G. Tracy Mehan III, The Cadmus Group

Barriers and Gateways to Green Infrastructure

October 2011
Source: Clean Water America Alliance

Clean Water Act and the Need for Certainty

August 2011
Source: The Horinko Group Featured Column, August 2011
Authored by: Brendan McGinnis, Director, Water Division, The Horinko Group

Water Risk Report - "A Drought in Your Portfolio: Are Global Companies Responding to Water Scarcity?"

June 2011
Source: Experts in Responsible Investment Solutions (EIRIS)

Managing Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources

May 11, 2011
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Authored by: U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey

Managing Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources

May 9, 2011
Source: The Horinko Group Featured Column, May 2011
Authored by: Dick Engberg, Technical Director, American Water Resources Association

2011 Water Market Review

May 5, 2011
Source: TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group (TSG)
Authored by: Steve Maxwell, Founder and Managing Director, TechKNOWLEDGEy

Clean Water: Foundation of Healthy Communities and a Healthy Environment

April 27, 2011
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Department of the Interior
Authored by: The Obama Administration

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Report: Responding to National Water Resources Challenges

August 2010
Source: United States Army Corps of Engineers
Authored by: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Directorate

Deconstructing The Horinko Group's Collaborative Model for Our Nation's Water Resources

January 2011
Source: Clean Water America Alliance's Water Policy Framework Meeting
Authored by: Patrick McGinnis, Water Division Team Leader, The Horinko Group

Water Sector Coming Together to Discuss National Water Policy Framework

December 2010
Source: NewsWaves
Authored by: Clean Water America Alliance

Great Lakes Asian Carp Prevention Legislation Passes Senate

November 17, 2010
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Authored by: The Associated Press

Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico

November, 2010
Source: The National Academies Press
Authored by: The National Academies

Of Maps and Men: 17th Century Mapmaking and 21st Century Sustainability

June 23, 2010
Source: America's Inner Coast Summit
Authored by: Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst, Northeast-Midwest Institute

The Horinko Group Hosts Reflective Discussion with National Water Leaders on Shaping a Brighter Water Outlook

May 2010
Authored by: Dr. Donna Ayres, Senior Consultant, The Horinko Group

April 13, 2010 Summit Keynote Remarks (PDF)

Provided by G. Tracy Mehan, The Cadmus Group

Making the Popular Case for Water Resource Sustainability - The Role of Storytelling and Social Networkers

April 2010
Co-Authored By: Brendan P. McGinnis and Patrick S. McGinnis, The Horinko Group's Water Division

Arriving at a National Water Strategy - The Role of Pathfinders in Water Resource Collaboration

March 2010
Authored by: Patrick S. McGinnis, Water Resources Team Leader, The Horinko Group

Dedication of Heron Pond Shorebird Habitat Enhancement Project (PDF)

Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary
October 25, 2009
St. Charles, MO
Opening remarks provided by Patrick McGinnis, The Horinko Group

The Watershed Approach and Strategies for Implementation (PDF)
Clean Rivers, Clean Lake VI - Watershed Planning Conference
August 31, 2009
Milwaukee, WI

Devolution: Government and Other Factors in 2050 (PDF)
2007 Assembly of the Gilbert F. White National Flood Policy Forum
Marvin Center, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Remarks provided by G. Tracy Mehan, III, The Cadmus Group

We Value Your Input

If there is a timely event, publication, or related water resource that you would like us to consider posting, please click the appropriate form link below:

• Share an Event
• Share a Resource
• Nominate a Pathfinder