Tue Mar 23 2004 - 14:01:20 PST

Contents
1. Update on Meeting #5
2. Eastern Invasives Network Statement of Purpose
3. How do I share network lessons with my state?
4. Private Stewardship Grants Program

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1. Update on Meeting #5
From: Beth Bockoven

We are in the early stages of planning the fifth workshop of the Eastern
Invasives Network, to be held on April 19-21st, 2005 in Kanuga, NC. The
Eastern Invasives Network provides a forum and ongoing support for the
development of threat abatement strategies for invasive species at
multiple spatial scales. Workshop #5 will be applicable to project
directors, government relations staff , development staff, and
conservation science and stewardship staff working at all organizational
levels of TNC (conservation areas, state, division, and regional).

Please see the information below concerning the Network's purpose and the
proposed focus of Workshop #5. We would greatly appreciate your comments
concerning the proposed Workshop objectives/agenda items--send comments to
Beth Bockoven and Jennifer Allen


For anyone developing FY05 budgets, we also have provided logistical
information below for budget preparation.

Sincerely,

EIN Workshop Planning Committee:
Beth Bockoven, Jennifer Allen, Tim Abbott, Bob Nelson, and with support
from the Invasive Species Initiative

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2. Eastern Invasives Network Statement of Purpose
From: Jennifer Allen

To: All interested staff within the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
      Southeast Divisions
From: Eastern Invasives Network
Date: March 22, 2004
Re: Eastern Invasives Network Workshop #5, April 19-21, 2005, Kanuga, NC

The Eastern Invasives Network (EIN) provides a forum and ongoing support
for the development of threat abatement strategies for invasive species.
EIN focuses on sharing lessons learned from case studies, exporting tools
to practitioners, and fostering communication between network
participants. Additionally, the network is designed to integrate and nest
within state, divisional, regional and national level efforts to develop
multi-site strategies such as invasive species policy work and an early
detection/rapid response system for invasives. Participants include The
Nature Conservancy and many private and public partners (IPANE, NPS, land
trusts, DRIPP, DOD, DNR).

Network participants use the adaptive management approach of the enhanced
5S conservation framework to develop and implement comprehensive invasive
species strategies: identify conservation targets, goals and threats;
develop and implement strategies; measure target and threat status and the
effectiveness of strategies; and evaluate and adapt conservation goals and
strategies.

Workshop #5 Draft Objectives:

(1) Share the successes/failures of implementing comprehensive invasive
management strategies at several landscape-scale conservation areas using
the enhanced 5S framework,

(2) Learn about incorporating communication/marketing and fundraising
strategies within comprehensive invasive abatement strategic plans,

(3) Nest conservation area strategies within the context of larger spatial
scales to identify multi-site strategies which can be implemented at
state, divisional, or national levels, and

(4) Discuss the role of the divisions for abating this threat.

Potential Agenda Items

* Case studies from conservation areas representing different steps along
  the enhanced 5S framework (exporting lessons learned and invasive
  tools)

* Working with philanthropy staff to develop fundraising strategies
* Communications and marketing strategies
* Government relations strategies at state and divisional levels (and
  national levels?)
* Divisional-level efforts: sequencing conservation priorities on the
  divisional level and what does that mean for invasives work
* Measures of success: case studies on developing/implementing invasive
  effectiveness and adapt and learn
* Strategies concerning forest insects and diseases
* Strategies concerning aquatic invasives
* Others???

Logistics

The 5th EIN meeting will be held at Kanuga Conference Center in
Hendersonville, NC. The price for staying at Kanuga is $89.00 per night
and this includes 3 meals a day. The conference will start at 9:00 am on
the morning of the 19th and go until the afternoon of the 21st. So, you
may want to plan to arrive the night ahead. There is no cost for the
meeting, you simply have to cover your room/board and cost to get to
Kanuga. Registration information will go out in January or February of
2005.

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3. How do I share network lessons with my state?
From: Beth Bockoven

I am planning a sharing session with the rest of my state (North Carolina)
in May. I'll be discussing the "best lessons learned" from the Eastern
Invasives Network. Has anyone else from the Network done such a thing with
their state chapters and if so, do you have pointers for me?

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4. Private Stewardship Grants Program
From: Elizabeth Sklad

For those who don't know about this funding source, it might be worth
checking it out and asking the successfully funded OUs for advice,
especially for the projects that do invasives control with the goal
of protecting T&E species. Quite a number of TNC OUs applied for and
received these grants for FY 03.

"The Private Stewardship Grants Program (PSGP) provides grants and other
assistance on a competitive basis to individuals and groups engaged in
private, voluntary conservation efforts that benefit species listed or
proposed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (Act), candidate species, or other at-risk species on
private lands within the United States."

You can reach the description, application, and information on last
year's awards at the following URL:
http://fedgrants.gov/Applicants/DOI/FWS/ES/PSGP-04/Grant.html