November 8th, 2011

2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit Report-Back

The 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit was a great success! The Summit was attended by a diverse array of folks from all sides of the mountain including water management professionals, representatives of numerous governmental entities, tribal representatives, leaders in non-profit led water protection, and more. We got a great overview on how Mt. Hood manages water from our recently retired Forest Supervisor; heard about the incredible work of multiple watershed counsels; learned about opportunities and challenges faced by both municipal water providers and irrigation districts; considered issues and policies surrounding old forest roads; heard the latest science on riparian thinning; discussed draft recommendations from our soon to be released water white paper; and had great discussions in our break-out sessions.

Many thanks to all of those who joined us: the excellent presentations by our speakers and the enthusiasm of our participants made for a great event. We apologize to those who we had to turn away due to venue capacity being limited to 80 participants, but we hope you will be able to join us for future events.

You can find pictures of the event on our flickr page. Power point presentations and Summit documents are attached to this article below. For speaker biographies, click here. A video recording of the conference will be posted here soon. For more information about the 2011 Mt. Hood Solutions Summit or the Restore Mt. Hood Campaign, contact us at 503-331-0374.

Bark's Restore Mt. Hood Campaign works to shift Mt. Hood National Forest towards management for clean cold water, wildlife, and quiet recreation. As part of the campaign, Bark and the Pacific Rivers Council will be publishing white papers on water, wildlife, and quiet recreation. The 2011 Solutions Summit gave the community an opportunity to come together and provide feedback on some of the Water White Paper's draft recommendations for improving the management of the Mt. Hood's water. This feedback will be incorporated into both the recommendations and plans for implementing them. Please stay tuned as this process unfolds, we can't wait to start putting some of our great ideas into motion!