Background: The Great Lakes Commission is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) www.usace.army.mil and Ecology and Environment www.ene.com to develop a webinar series to review the regulatory requirements for voluntary habitat restoration projects including wetland restoration, stream/riparian restoration, culvert replacements, small dam removal. These projects may require coordination with state and federal agencies for permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and related state water quality certifications including Section 401 of the Water Control Amendments and Coastal Consistency requirements of the Coastal Zone Management Act.

This webinar series comes in response to a request by the Habitat/Species Work Group of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration to clarify the permitting process and the roles of relevant agencies. The series is also intended to address new permit requests associated with funds provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The objectives of this webinar series are to:

• Familiarize project proponents with regulatory requirements and procedures; both state and federal; to minimize potential project implementation delays or other issues;


• Use examples to demonstrate varying thresholds for regulatory requirements; and


• Receive comments and recommendations for improvement of the regulatory process through the renewal of the Nationwide Permits or other relevant means

Representatives from the USACE and the associated state agency(s) will provide an overview of permit requirements and application process in their state. Case studies will be used to demonstrate permitting options for various habitat restoration projects.

Format: The webinar series will include 8 sessions, one for each Great Lakes state, starting in February 2011. Each webinar will last two hours and will include a 30-minute presentation from the USACE and each associated state regulatory agency. Time will be reserved for participants to ask questions and to engage in group dialogue on specific project details, future directions and policy approaches. This dialogue may include comments and recommendations for improvement of the regulatory process through the renewal of the Nationwide Permits or other relevant means. Each webinar will be archived for online retrieval at the GLC-Habitat website, including verbal and written dialogue.

Webinar Schedule:

Friday, February 18, 2011 10am - 12pm (EST) New York State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration, Maggie Crawford (Margaret.a.crawford@usace.army.mil) • New York DOS Permit Process, Jeffrey Zappieri (Jeffrey.Zappieri@dos.state.ny.us) • New York DEC Permit Process, John Ferguson (jjfergus@gw.dec.state.ny.us) • View Webinar - Part I (no audio) • View Webinar - Part II • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Thursday, March 3, 2011 1pm-3pm (EST) Michigan State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration, Henry Rosenfield (Henry.Rosenfield@usace.army.mil) • Michigan DEQ Restoration Permit Process, Rob Zbiciak (zbiciakr@michigan.gov) • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 3-5pm (EST) Indiana State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration (Tom Allenson and Paul Leffler) • Indiana DEM Permit Process (Liz Pelloso) • Indiana DNR Permit Process (Andrea Gromeaux-Schnaith) • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 2-4pm CDT (3-5pm EDT) Illinois State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration (Kate Bliss) • Illinois EPA Permit Process (Dan Heacock) • Illinois DNR Permit Process (James Casey) • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 10am-12pm CDT (11am-1pm EDT) Wisconsin State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration (Anthony Jernigan) • WI Permit Process (Cherie Hagen) • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Friday, April 8, 2011 1-3pm EDT Ohio State Regulatory Program • USACE Aquatic Resource Restoration (Keith Sendziak) • OEPA Permit process (Tom Harcarik) • Ohio DNR Permit Process (John Watkins) • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Friday, April 29, 2011 1-3pm CDT Minnesota State Regulatory Program • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Daryl Wierzbinski • MN Bureau of Water and Soil Resources - Joan Weyandt • MN Pollution Control Agency - Tom Estabrooks • MN Department of Natural Resources - Patty Fowler • View Entire Webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

Friday, May 13, 2011 10am-12noon EDT Pennsylvania State Regulatory Program • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Nancy Mullen • PA Department of Environmental Protection - Lori Boughton and Karl Gross • View entire webinar • Webinar Summary Thank you to everyone who particpated in the webinar! Presentations from the webinar are available in PDF format and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.

   

If you would like to receive informational updates regarding this webinar series and/or other Habitat Initiatives, please contact Heather Braun at hbraun@glc.org