**Agenda - Fourth I&M "Meeting of the Networks"**

**Radisson Hotel Ballroom, Austin, Texas**

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|     | **Tuesday, February 8 -- Focus on Monitoring**                 |
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| 6   | First bus from Hilton Airport Hotel to Radisson; last bus is   |
| :00 | at 7:30. Two 56-passenger buses will alternate between the     |
| am  | Hilton and Radisson, with one leaving approximately every half |
|     | hour (if a bus is full, they will leave early). Buses at       |
|     | approximately 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, and 7:30, but get there early! |
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| 7   | Breakfast pastries, coffee and tea at Radisson Hotel Ballroom  |
| :00 | downtown. Need to begin promptly at 8 am!                      |
| am  |                                                                |
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| 8   | Welcome and introductions -- Steve Fancy                       |
| :00 |                                                                |
| am  | Science for parks and parks for science -- Mike Soukup         |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Reflections on the I&M Program and Natural Resource Challenge  |
|     | -- Gary Davis                                                  |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Awards -- Beth Johnson                                         |
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| 9   | Monitoring and Reporting on the Condition of Park Resources:   |
| :30 | Where we are and where we're going with vital signs monitoring |
|     | -- Steve Fancy (60 min)                                        |
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| 10  | Break                                                          |
| :30 |                                                                |
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| 10  | Parks Canada's approach for monitoring ecological integrity -- |
| :50 | Don McLennan and Stephen Woodley (35 min)                      |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Smithsonian MAB (Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity     |
|     | Program); common issues and solutions - Francisco Dallmeier    |
|     | (20 min)                                                       |
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| 11  | Lunch                                                          |
| :45 |                                                                |
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| 1   | Peer reviews of monitoring plans; early feedback -- John Gross |
| :15 | and Steve Fancy (30 min)                                       |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 1   | Lessons Learned: Common problems and solutions                 |
| :45 |                                                                |
|     | -   Monitoring questions and objectives: review and            |
|     |     recommendations -- Steve Fancy (15 min)                    |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Conceptual modeling and vital signs: lessons learned --    |
|     |     John Gross (30 min)                                        |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Prioritization and selection of vital signs: the           |
|     |     recommended way to do it - Kris Heister/Steve Fancy (20    |
|     |     min)                                                       |
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| 2   | Break                                                          |
| :50 |                                                                |
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| 3   | Collaboration on the most common vital signs:                  |
| :10 |                                                                |
|     | -   Landscape dynamics -- John Gross, Stephen Woodley (20 min) |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Invasive plants -- Brad Welch (20 min)                     |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Weather -- Steve Garman (20 min)                           |
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| 4   | Protocols: lessons learned and mistakes to avoid -- Carrie     |
| :10 | Phillips (30 min)                                              |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 4   | Breakout groups by job function -- each group discusses 2 or 3 |
| :40 | interesting topics and lessons learned; continue discussions   |
|     | over dinner and report back to main group in the morning       |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Data Managers -- Margaret Beer: Lakeview Breakout Room     |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Quantitative Ecologists & Statisticians -- Steve Garman:   |
|     |     Main Ballroom                                              |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Network Coordinators -- Cathie Jean: Main Ballroom         |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Park Managers and Resource Specialists -- Devi Sharp:      |
|     |     Skyline Breakout Room                                      |
|     |                                                                |
|     | -   Regional, WASO, USGS Professionals -- Sara Wesser: Old     |
|     |     Pecan Street Breakout Room                                 |
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| 5   | End of first day; continue group discussions during reception  |
| :30 | and dinner; breakout rooms avail. until 10 pm                  |
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| 6   | Reception and side meetings starting at **6:00 pm**. From 6 to |
| :00 | 8 there will be a no-host bar and finger food provided, and a  |
| pm  | bingo game with interesting facts about the people we work     |
|     | with.                                                          |
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| **5 | Data Managers side meeting in Lakeview Room to discuss         |
| :15 | "Guidelines and Protocols" workgroups; decide on topic         |
| to  | priorities and how to proceed. Faciliated by Dorothy           |
| 6   | Mortenson.                                                     |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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| **7 | Vegetation monitoring protocols: collaboration among networks. |
| --8 | Marcus Koenen, Facilitator                                     |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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| **  | Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species/Commun. Protocol       |
| 8-9 | collaboration. Marcus Koenen, Facilitator.                     |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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|     | **Evening Bus Service back to the Hilton: One 56-passenger bus |
|     | will run continuously between the Radisson and the Hilton      |
|     | between 6:30 pm and 10 pm, so approximately one round trip per |
|     | hour. The last bus will probably leave the Radisson around 10  |
|     | pm.**                                                          |
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|     | **Wednesday, February 9 -- Inventories, Integration,           |
|     | Administration, and Accountability**                           |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 6   | First bus from Hilton Airport Hotel to Radisson; last bus is   |
| :00 | at 7:30. Two 56-passenger buses will alternate between the     |
| am  | Hilton and Radisson, with one leaving approximately every half |
|     | hour (if a bus is full, they will leave early).                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 7   | Breakfast pastries, coffee and tea at Radisson meeting room    |
| :00 | downtown. Need to begin promptly at 8 am!                      |
| am  |                                                                |
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| 8   | Group reports from breakout groups                             |
| :00 |                                                                |
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| 9   | **Inventories**                                                |
| :00 |                                                                |
|     | Update/status of 12 core inventories -- Joe Gregson (20 min)   |
|     |                                                                |
|     | NPSpecies and data certification lessons learned -- Margaret   |
|     | Beer (20 min)                                                  |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Vegetation Mapping approaches; approaches that worked well,    |
|     | and things that went bad -- Mike Story (35 min)                |
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| 10  | Break                                                          |
| :15 |                                                                |
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| 10  | **Integration**                                                |
| :30 |                                                                |
|     | Role of the networks; where to draw the line: review followed  |
|     | by panel discussion -- Dusty Perkins (60 min; compare/contrast |
|     | different ways that networks have defined themselves relative  |
|     | to what the parks do)                                          |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Water quality integration; review of first 12 monitoring       |
|     | plans; group discussion -- Gary Rosenlieb (30 min)             |
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| :30 |                                                                |
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| 12  | Lunch                                                          |
| :00 |                                                                |
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| 1   | Strategic Planning, Resource Stewardship Plans, Desired Future |
| :30 | Conditions, and Performance Management; presentation followed  |
|     | by group discussion -- Lisa Thomas and Beth Johnson (50 min)   |
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| 2   | Sampling Design: review of approaches that seem to have paid   |
| :20 | off -- Lloyd Morrison (20 min)                                 |
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| 2   | Power Analysis do's and don'ts -- Paul Lukacs (20 min)         |
| :40 |                                                                |
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| 3   | Group Discussion                                               |
| :00 |                                                                |
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| 3   | Break                                                          |
| :20 |                                                                |
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| 3   | Fire Ecology Program; opportunities for additional             |
| :40 | collaboration -- Kara Paintner (20 min)                        |
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| 4   | Staffing up: Quantitative ecologists, in-house vs.             |
| :00 | contracting, staffing plans -- Shawn Carter (30 min)           |
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| 4   | Group Discussion                                               |
| :30 |                                                                |
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| 4   | Protocol development -- Group Discussion                       |
| :50 |                                                                |
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| 5   | Group Discussion of any topic of the meeting so far            |
| :10 |                                                                |
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| 5   | End of second day                                              |
| :30 |                                                                |
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|     | Data Manager's and other Optional side meetings in evening     |
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| **5 | Side meeting, Skyline Breakout Room. Water quality monitoring  |
| :30 | side meeting. Discuss data management issues, problems,        |
| to  | procedures, common ground realted to WQ protocols. Facilitated |
| 7   | by Vel Potash.                                                 |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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|     | Side meetings of data managers: 2 or 3 concurrent side         |
|     | meetings in Lakeview Breakout Room; topics to be determined at |
|     | Tuesday evening session.                                       |
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|     |                                                                |
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| **7 | Amphibian monitoring protocols: collaboration among networks.  |
| --8 | Marcus Koenen, Facilitator                                     |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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| **  | Bird Monitoring protocols: collaboration among networks.       |
| 8-9 | Marcus Koenen, Facilitator.                                    |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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| **  | Side meetings: Network-specific meetings of first 12 networks  |
| 7-9 | with Steve Fancy to get feedback on peer reviews.              |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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|     | **Evening Bus Service back to the Hilton: One 56-passenger bus |
|     | will run continuously between the Radisson and the Hilton      |
|     | between 6:30 pm and 10 pm, so approximately one round trip per |
|     | hour. The last bus will probably leave the Radisson around 10  |
|     | pm.**                                                          |
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|     | **Thursday, February 10 -- Focus on Information Management**   |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 6   | First bus from Hilton Airport Hotel to Radisson; last bus is   |
| :00 | at 7:30. Two 56-passenger buses will alternate between the     |
| am  | Hilton and Radisson, with one leaving approximately every half |
|     | hour (if a bus is full, they will leave early).                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 7   | Breakfast pastries, coffee and tea at Radisson meeting room    |
| :00 | downtown. Need to begin promptly at 8 am!                      |
| am  |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 8   | **Concurrent side meeting for USGS scientists**: Paul Geissler |
| :00 | will facilitate a meeting in the Lakeview Breakout Room for    |
|     | all USGS scientists attending the meeting. See Paul for        |
|     | details                                                        |
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| 8   | **Data and Information Management Session 1** (15 minutes      |
| :00 | each)                                                          |
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|     | Vision and framework for I&M information management -- Steve   |
|     | Fancy (15 min)                                                 |
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|     | Collaborative Model of Data Management; why data managers      |
|     | can't do it alone -- Rob Daley                                 |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Data Management Process and Work Flow -- John Boetsch          |
|     |                                                                |
|     | Project Tracking Database Demonstration -- Bill Eichenlaub     |
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| 9   | **Data Management Session 2 - Information Storage and          |
| :15 | Dissemination** (15 minutes each)                              |
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|     | Infrastructure to Support Integration and Dissemination --     |
|     | Dorothy Mortenson                                              |
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|     | Data Storage and Retrieval; relationships among the NR         |
|     | Datastore, NR GIS, Biodiversity Datastore, NPS Focus -- Joe    |
|     | Gregson                                                        |
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|     | Curation and Archiving of I&M Products: Working with park      |
|     | museum management -- Margaret Beer                             |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 10  | Break                                                          |
| :00 |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 10  | Database Template; presentation and demonstration followed by  |
| :15 | group discussion -- Joe Gregson                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 10  | **Data Analysis**                                              |
| :45 |                                                                |
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|     | Automated data summarization and analysis -- Gareth Rowell (20 |
|     | min)                                                           |
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|     | Stat Server demonstration -- Maggie MacCluskie (10 min)        |
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|     | Panel discussion: data integration; what it means and how to   |
|     | promote it; group discussion -- Bob Truitt (1 hour)            |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 12  | Lunch                                                          |
| :15 |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 1   | Special Session: Science Communication -- Bill Dennison, Univ. |
| :30 | Maryland                                                       |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 2   | Reporting - Lessons learned from the Northwest Forest Plan's   |
| :30 | experiences - Craig Palmer (20 min)                            |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 2   | Break                                                          |
| :50 |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 3   | **Reporting, continued**                                       |
| :05 |                                                                |
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|     | Network websites; review and demonstration -- Brent Frakes (30 |
|     | min)                                                           |
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|     | State of the Parks reporting -- Steve Fancy (20 min)           |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 4   | Information Management; Who is interested in our data and why? |
| :00 | Panel/group discussion -- Matt Patterson                       |
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| 5   | end of day; go have a beer                                     |
| :30 |                                                                |
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|     | Optional side meetings in evening:                             |
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| **7 | Side meeting in Old Pecan Street Breakout Room to discuss USGS |
| :00 | and NPS collaborative efforts to develop protocols and models  |
| to  | for early detection of invasive plants. Led by Paul Geissler,  |
| 8   | by invitation only. USGS scientists involved in invasive       |
| :30 | plants work, plus maximum of one person from each network      |
| p   | interested in attending as observers.                          |
| m** |                                                                |
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| **8 | Side meeting, by invitation only, to focus on invasive plant   |
| :45 | protocol development for the Klamath network parks. Led by     |
| to  | Brad Welch. Old Pecan Street Breakout Room.                    |
| 10  |                                                                |
| p   |                                                                |
| m** |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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|     | **Evening Bus Service back to the Hilton: One 56-passenger bus |
|     | will run continuously between the Radisson and the Hilton      |
|     | between 6:30 pm and 10 pm, so approximately one round trip per |
|     | hour. The last bus will probably leave the Radisson around 10  |
|     | pm.**                                                          |
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|     | **Friday, February 11, 2005**                                  |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 6   | First bus from Hilton Airport Hotel to Radisson; last bus is   |
| :00 | at 7:30. Two 56-passenger buses will alternate between the     |
| am  | Hilton and Radisson, with one leaving approximately every half |
|     | hour (if a bus is full, they will leave early). Bring your     |
|     | luggage or store it at the Hilton; one bus will shuttle people |
|     | back to the Hilton between noon and 2 pm.                      |
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| 7   | Breakfast pastries, coffee and tea at Radisson meeting room    |
| :00 | downtown. Need to begin promptly at 8 am!                      |
| am  |                                                                |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 8   | Review/assessment of progress over the last few years -- Gary  |
| :00 | Davis                                                          |
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| 8   | Lessons learned and opportunities for further collaboration w/ |
| :30 | Parks Canada -- Don McLennan                                   |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 8   | Panel Discussion -- Assessment of where we are and where we're |
| :50 | going -- Joe DeVivo (40 min)                                   |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 9   | **Breakout Groups:**                                           |
| :30 |                                                                |
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|     | -   Group 1: What should be the role of the networks in the    |
|     |     stewardship of park resources? How should the networks     |
|     |     relate to parks and other programs? Dusty Perkins -- Main  |
|     |     Ballroom                                                   |
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|     | -   Group 2: Science communication part 1: how to make         |
|     |     information available and useful to park managers --       |
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|     | -   Greg Shriver -- Lakeview Breakout Room                     |
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|     | -   Group 3: Science communication part 2: external audiences; |
|     |     protecting resources by informing and influencing others   |
|     |     -- Joe DeVivo -- Skyline Breakout Room                     |
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|     |                                                                |
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| 11  | Group Discussion -- reports from breakout groups, discussion   |
| :00 | of progress to date and future needs; tie it all together;     |
|     | next steps -- Steve Fancy                                      |
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|     |                                                                |
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| N   | end of main meeting; some people head for airport              |
| oon |                                                                |
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|     | Optional side meetings begin                                   |
|     |                                                                |
|     | **(One bus will shuttle between the Radisson and Hilton        |
|     | between 12 and 2 pm. You should either bring your luggage with |
|     | you, or store it at the Hilton and take the bus or a taxi back |
|     | to get it before going to the airport).**                      |
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