This afternoon marked the beginning of the activities here in St. Louis, MO, for the 10th National Mitigation & Conservation Banking Conference and for Restoration Systems, as Tara Allden and George Howard of RS, along with Cynthia Robinson, President of Robinsong Ecological Services, and Steve Jones, Vice President of Environmental Services Inc., hosted the Stream Mitigation Banking & Restoration Primer.

The group convenes in George Howard’s room for a last minute meeting before “hitting the stage.”

As you can see, the planning and tweaking of the presentation went up to the last minute, which was to be expected, as the Powerpoint melded three seperate presentations together into one.   Cynthia’s focus was on Standard Operating Procedures and the feasibility and economics of completing a restoration site, while Steve called on his own expertise to educate on stream design considerations and implementation.  Tara geared her portion of the presentation toward regulatory issues, and the many keys to site success, playing the role of both lawyer and an environmentalist.

Cynthia Robinson presents on stream banking and restoration feasibility.

George Howard of RS hosted the workshop and lead discussions and Q&A sessions throughout the afternoon.  Below you can see a pensive George gathering his thoughts before heading downstairs to present.

George takes a moment to collect his thoughts before the presentation begins.

The presentation, which ran from 1:30-5:00, was packed full of information, providing in-depth technical insights to the detailed processes of stream banking and restoration.  The goal was to provide a better understanding of the drivers for development, the relevant guidelines needed to be successful, and an overall “how-to” on the details involved.  It was a success and we would like to thank all of those who joined us yesterday for the workshop!

Tara Allden educates and entertains the crowd.