Department Of Interior

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Office of the Secretary
Contact:John Wright
For Immediate Release: Nov. 14, 2003
202-208-6416

 

Media Advisory

 

Interior Secretary Norton to Address Partners in
Stewardship Conference in Los Angeles Nov. 18-20
 
WASHINGTON--Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton will address the opening session of the Joint Ventures: Partners in Stewardship Conference, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003, in Los Angeles, Calif. The conference with 250 educational sessions planned and an expected audience of approximately 1,500 participants will focus on the importance of federal, public-private partnerships and how planning and working together will provide for future success.

"The environmental challenges we face in the 21st Century are in many ways more subtle and more difficult than we have faced in the past," Norton said. "This conference will supply the knowledge, skills and tools needed to work with partners and create opportunities."

The three-day conference will bring together much of the senior leadership of the Department of the Interior's National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs; along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. Also, several hundred representatives of state and local governments, non-profits associations, concessioners, universities and many others who work with federal and state land management agencies have registered for this conference.

In addition to key officials, the conference will showcase one of the historic (1930s) red buses from Glacier National Park. The rehabilitation of the Red Bus fleet is a partnership project of Ford Motor Company, Glacier Park Inc. and the National Park Service. On Tuesday, Nov.18, at 7 a.m. the historic bus will be used to transport keynote speakers and other officials from the Bonaventure Hotel to the convention center.

Who: Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the Interior
           David Rockefeller, Jr.
           Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
           Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget
           Rebecca Watson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management
           Fran Mainella, Director of the National Park Service
           John Keys, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation
           Chief Dale Bosworth, U.S. Forest Service
           Major General Carl Strock, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
           William Mehojah, Jr., Deputy Director of Tribal Services, Bureau of Indian Affair
           Elected officials from the state of California and other state officials from around the            country

What: Partnership in Stewardship Conference

When: Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003
           7 a.m.- Historic Red Bus departs Bonaventure Hotel
           8 a.m.- Opening session of conference
           9:10 a.m. - Secretary Norton remarks
           10:30 a.m. Media availability

Where: Los Angeles Convention Center

Note to Editors: Secretary Norton will respond to questions immediately following her remarks. A full description of the program, speakers and more than 250 educational sessions is available on-line at www.partnerships2003.org. Additional information on the Red Bus history is available at: www.glacierparkinc.com/index.cfm?action=tours.buses.




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