Agenda and Meeting Materials for the April 25 Friends of the Estuary Board Meeting

Friends of the Estuary, a non-profit California corporation, is a coalition of environmentalists, business and industry representatives, state and local government agencies, elected officials and other community members dedicated to protecting, restoring and enhancing the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The Friends Board of Directors meets every three months and is staffed by the Estuary Project. Friends carries out its mission by assisting the San Francisco Estuary Project implement its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for the Estuary.

Friends of the San Francisco Estuary was established by the Estuary Project's Management Committee in May, 1991. The Management Committee believed that Friends could solicit and obtain governmental grants and non-governmental funding to supplement the Estuary Project's workplan. During this initial stage, Friends also worked to build broad-based public support for CCMP development.

In its expanded role, Friends has been and will be performing fundraising, monitoring and educational functions aimed at preserving and restoring the Estuary. Friends also continues the vitally important task, begun by the Estuary Project, of providing a forum where diverse viewpoints can be expressed, and encouraging dialogue between public and private interests.

Friends is also responsible for coordinating implementation of the CCMP's Public Involvement and Education Program and promoting public review and involvement in overall CCMP implementation. Public involvement has been essential to all aspects of the Estuary Project since it began. Recognizing the importance of the public¼s involvement in caring for the Estuary, the Estuary Project's Public Involvement and Education Program developed educational materials to focus public attention on the Estuary's problems and to promote informed activism. New opportunities were created for the public to become more involved in managing, protecting and restoring the Estuary. Friends is now carrying on this work and, in so doing, is seeking to sustain public and political interest in CCMP implementation and to provide broad-based access to Estuary decision-making.

Friends Implementation Activities

The Management Committee specifically assigned Friends to:

• Ensure that activities recommended in the CCMP's Public Involvement and Education Program are carried out, including:
• Developing educational materials for youth, the general public and decision-makers;
• Providing regionwide outreach programs, meetings and workshops;
• Providing an informational hotline and newsletter;
• Supporting community-designed model projects; and
• Supporting multicultural understanding of, and involvement in, Estuary issues.
• Serve as a public involvement and education resource for local, state and federal agencies involved in implementing the CCMP.
• Support the environmental programs of other organizations that are consistent with the goals of the CCMP.
• Provide opportunities for the public to be directly involved in restoring the Estuary.
• Act as an advocate and watchdog for CCMP implementation.
• Ensure that the public has an opportunity for direct, meaningful participation in decision-making and CCMP implementation oversight activities.
• Recommend legislative changes to facilitate CCMP implementation.

Friends may also undertake other activities, such as:
Developing and providing school curricula and teacher workshops about the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary environment;
Developing and providing educational materials on environmental issues concerning the Estuary's beneficial uses (recreation, boating, fishing, tourism, agriculture, business, industry, municipal);
Providing a forum in which to achieve scientific and policy consensus on the Estuary's problems; and,
Providing support for the above activities by developing and printing informational materials, reports, and newsletters.

Friends is particularly interested in coordinating CCMP implementation activities among local governments. To this end, Friends supports the development of educational programs for local elected officials and the general public, along with model language for a watershed management component to be included in local general plans.

Friends plans to develop and coordinate programs that advance multicultural understanding of and involvement in Estuary issues and the decision-making process for these issues. Friends will also continue to assist in printing Estuarywise, a pollution prevention booklet for the public prepared by the San Francisco Estuary Project.

At present, Friends' two major outreach activities are ESTUARY Newsletter and the Estuary Education Program.

For more information, call 510/622-2337 or send e-mail.