TRBN Science and Communications Teams Kick-Off Meetings
That workshop was held to gather regional conservation partners, celebrate successes conserving and improving aquatic biodiversity in the Tennessee River Watershed, and to consider how greater cooperation could lead to more strategic prioritization and effectiveness. Participants formed two committees, one focus on Science and the other on Communication. These teams held their first meetings in late March to develop work plans in preparation for the Second Annual TRBN workshop to be held in August 2016.
The objective of the works plans is to implement the partnership commitments to improving the success of conservation actions in the Tennessee River Basin. The Science Team - hosted by Steering Committee member Mark Thurman of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency - worked to prioritize needs for planning and sharing data and resources across the entire basin, sectors, and funding sources to form a more strategic conservation workforce. The Communications Team - hosted at the Tennessee Aquarium - identified messages and audiences for outreach about the aquatic biodiversity and value of the River Basin.
The Appalachian LCC is providing resources to help guide this effort with landscape-level conservation design and decision support tools as well as planning resources that are available to the partners on the Web Portal (www.applcc.org). The meetings were attended by diverse set of partners and facilitated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
