Registration Opens For September International Columbia River Conference

Online registration opened his week for an international conference on the Columbia River, co-hosted by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and the Columbia Basin Trust, the Council’s closest counterpart agency in Canada.

The conference, called The Columbia Basin Transboundary Conference: One River, One Future, is scheduled September 12 to 14, 2019, in Kimberley, B.C. With participants from both sides of the international border, the conference will address key issues related to the future of the river, its ecosystem, management, and international implications.

Registration is available on the conference website, www.transboundaryriverconference.org. The cost to attend is $199 Canadian ($150 U.S. at the current exchange rate). The website also has links to conference social media sites.

Rick Jensen, chair of the board of directors of the Columbia Basin Trust, and Jennifer Anders, chair of the Council, will co-host the conference in collaboration with Canadian First Nations and U.S. Tribes.

“We are excited about this conference because it will bring together not only experts in the critical issues we have identified, but also many other interested people from both sides of the border and provide all of us an opportunity to actively listen, learn, and strengthen our understanding,” Anders said.

“With a conference focus on collaboration, culture, and conversation, attendees will explore a wide range of contemporary topics related to the Columbia River,” Jensen said. “Our aim is for participants to have discussions and learn from one another, and advance our collective approach to being stewards of the river that binds us.”

Through break-out sessions, interactive workshops, presentations, networking events and a guided regional tour, conference participants will share perspectives and build an understanding of current issues, emerging challenges, innovations and integrated approaches with respect to the Columbia River. The conference will leverage local subject-matter experts, researchers, policy-makers and traditional knowledge keepers to deliver fresh perspectives on the Columbia River’s future. There will also be a focus on celebrating the rich and diverse arts and culture in the Columbia River Basin.

Issues that will be on the agenda include:

• Renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty;
• Reintroduction of salmon to the upper Columbia River;
• Impacts of and response to invasive species;
• Energy issues including hydropower, energy efficiency (conservation), transmission and renewable resources;
• Climate change-related impacts, and;
• International water governance issues and opportunities.

The Trust and the Council have co-hosted four previous international Transboundary Columbia River conferences, 1998 (Castlegar), 2002 (Spokane), 2006 (Castlegar) and 2014 (Spokane).