Nominations are now being accepted for the first "Innovation in Technology and ECR" Award. The award will recognize new and innovative applications of technologies within collaborative environmental processes. The Award will be presented at the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution’s ECR 2010 conference to be held in May 2010 in Tucson, Arizona. Nominated projects will also be featured in an "Innovations Gallery" during the event

To make nominations check out the full announcement. Note that the deadline is 1/22.

Craig Zelizer has posted a great guide on his blog to a variety of online resources that will likely be very helpful to the members of the EPP section.

From his description:

“As I am often working in different contexts (and countries) and across multiple computers, I wanted to share some of the free software/it services that I have found incredibly useful to help me stay connected, up-to-date and informed. This is not specifically an endorsement of any particular product/company (and I only want to list free services here) but other members might find some of these resources useful in your work and research.”

Check it out here.

The bi-annual USIECR conference, ECR 2010 is taking place in Tucson May 25-27, 2010. Part of the conference will be a Technology Fair concurrent with the opening reception on May 25th.

This is a great opportunity to get any cutting-edge ECR technologies in front of the movers and shakers in the field.  The conference usually draws between 300-400 practitioners, agency staff, NGO's and others, so it’s a great opportunity to educate and reach out to folks.

Suzanne Orenstein, a well known environmental conflict resolution practitioner and manager, has been named to head the Udall Foundation's new Washington, D.C., office beginning on January 4, 2010. Orenstein’s primary duties will relate to the work of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, a major Udall Foundation program.

From the tech and ECR blog:

Nominations are now being accepted for the first Innovation in Technology and ECR Award, sponsored by the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. The award will recognize new and innovative applications of technologies within collaborative environmental processes, and will be presented at USIECR’s ECR 2010 conference to be held in May 2010 in Tucson, Arizona. The nomination deadline is January 22nd, 2010.

To find out more or to make a nomination please visit the USIECR website: http://www.ecr.gov/AnnouncementsEvents/AnnouncementsEvents.aspx?Item=56

Google labs is now offering "complete coverage" of on-going news stories in a new living stories page.

The Living Stories project is an experiment in presenting news, one designed specifically for the online environment. The project was developed by Google in collaboration with two of the country's leading newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

For now, The Post is launching three such pages, on health-care reform, D.C. schools and the Washington Redskins. The Times has five, devoted to Afghanistan, executive compensation, global warming, swine flu and health care.

In this issue...

• ECR 2010 and EPP 2010 – Save the Dates: May 24-27
• New EPP website and subscription feature
• Leadership Council Updates
• Rob Williams Memorial
• Member Spotlight: John Jostes
• Ecosystem-Based Management Tools Network
• EPP 2009 Conference Recap
• Calendar of Upcoming Events

click here to download – adobe acrobat required

Last week Foreign Policy was investigating "Who Killed Copenhagen." Today an interim agreement was given new life because "Obama is coming to Copenhagen." He has committed to making a one-day stop-over and will carry with him a commitment from the U.S. to specific short-term targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The Washington Post reports:

The University of Denver, host to the ACR EPP Section 2009 Conference, recently posted its latest newsletter.

The newsletter is available online (in keeping with our sustainability goals!): http://www.du.edu/con-res/documents/Summer2009Newsletter-Small11-23-09.pdf

By EPPP Section Co-Chair Harry Manasewich

The Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution&Public Collaboration (MODR) has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Affiliate Practitioner General Services, which seeks to qualify senior level dispute resolution and collaborative practitioners. The RFQ can be found under Contract Number CB10-MK-0007 at http://www.umb.edu/administration_finance/procurement/openingbids.html