Katie Rizer, Executive Director of the Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy, will speak at the Lake Michigan Academy Leadership Training Workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 12-14. Katie will present Coffee Creek's restoration and watershed management program.

The workshop will bring together nine regional planning councils and councils of governments from four states for the first time to discuss cooperative programs for Lake Michigan and its environs. These groups work with local governments which control most of the land use within the Lake Michigan basin through legislation and policy. The Academy hopes to educate and influence policies and practices to benefit the lake and its resources, connecting the needs of local planners, managers, elected public officials, engineers, and environmentalists from private groups and pubic agencies surrounding Lake Michigan.

The objective of the accord is to create a forum for local government leadership and to engage business, civic and institutional sectors to support greater regional planning. Together, the agencies cover 17 counties and 8,000 square miles.

During this three-day workshop participants will learn about the state of Lake Michigan as a valuable resource and ecosystem and the vision and goals of the Lake Michigan Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP). They will also learn why local decision-making and land use is essential to healthy watersheds and the key players, roles and activities needed at the local level to sustain effective stewardship of the lake and watershed. Participants will also establish a network and forum for exchanging information and Resources and review case studies of effective regional watershed management activities.