Sustainable Operations Summit 2007

Collectively Changing Lightbulbs in the Service of Ecosystems

Meeting Objectives

November 13-17, 2007
Colorado Convention Center
Denver, CO

• To officially launch the Forest Service (FS) National Sustainable Operations effort
• To bring together employees and partners to explore opportunities and ways to support and learn from pragmatic application of sustainable operations efforts
• To share stories, ideas and resources in support of finding solutions and innovative ways to reduce our environment footprint

NOTE: The documents below are in Adobe PDF format unless otherwise noted. Some of these documents are quite large, so be prepared for long downloads depending on your connection.

Tuesday, November 13

 1:00 pm  Meeting Introduction and Opening

 1:15 pm  Setting the Stage—Growing Our Sustainable Operations Effort Together: The Past, Present and Future (3.96 MB)

• Leadership Videos
  • Hank Kashdan (wmv, 6.4 MB)
  • Joel Holtrop (wmv, 6.4 MB)

 2:00 pm  Welcome to the Rockies

• R2 Regional Forester Rick Cables Top 10 (229 kb)

 2:15 pm  Welcome to Denver—Green City USA

• Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper

 2:45 pm  Break

 3:15 pm  Launching the National Sustainable Operation Effort

 5:15 pm  Evening Social (Cash Bar) and Keynote:

• The Business Case for Sustainability
  Nicolas Theisen, Sustainability Specialist, New Belgium Brewing Company

Wednesday, November 14

 8:00 am  Logistics

 8:30 am  Keynote

• Sustainable Consumption and United Nations Efforts (213 kb)
  Mohan Peck, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

 9:15 am  Break—Networking and Display Browsing

 9:45 am  Concurrent Tracks: Session 1

• Forming a Green Team
• Recreation
• Carbon Markets
  • Carbon Markets, Trey Schillie (531 kb)
• Sustainable Communities
  • Community Connections: Sustainability as if People Matter (4.11 MB)
    Steve Kratville, US Forest Service, Daniel Laven and Christina Marts, National Park Service
  • Stewardship Begins With People: An Atlas of Places, People and Hand-Made Products (10.45 MB)
    Conservation Study Institute, National Park Service
• Sustainable Design
• Environmental Management Systems

 10:45 am  Break—switch sessions

 11:00 am  Concurrent Tracks: Session 1 (Repeated)

 12:15 pm  Luncheon Keynotes

• Jim Dion, National Geographic, Center for Sustainable Destinations (612 kb)
• Ted Martens, Sustainable Travel International (5.05 MB)

 1:45 pm  Participants Depart for Field Trips

1. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)
   • Renewable Fuel Heating Plant (1.63 MB)
   • Renewable Fuel Heating Plant Feasibility Assessment (225 kb)
2. EPA’s LEED Certified Building/ Alliance for Sustainable Colorado Partnerships Building
3. City of Denver Water Recycling Plant
4. GRX-E-Waste Recycling
5. Denver Zoo (proposal to be a zero-waste zoo)
6. The Stapleton Project (Sustainable Community)

Thursday, November 15

 8:00 am  Logistics

 8:15 am  Concurrent Tracks: Session 2

• Energy
  • R2 Energy Management Team Update (2.31 MB), Alicen Kandt (NREL), Randy Parker (USFS)
  • Energy: Why Biomass? (1.96 MB) Dr. Marcia Patton-Mallory, Biomass and Bioenergy Coordinator, US Forest Service
  • What’s New at FEMP & NREL? (159 kb) Chandra Shah, NREL
  • US Forest Service Energy and Water Energy and Water Conservation (671 kb), Todd Michael
• Waste/ Recycling
  • Waste Prevention and Recycling (492 kb), Bighorn National Forest
  • EPA's Programs and Tools to Promote Waste Prevention (1.15 MB), Kim Bartels & Anne-Marie Patrie
  • Waste Minimization – A Study in Recycling Efficiency (407 kb) Marion M. R. Buntyn
  • Waste Recycling Overview - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! (156 kb)
• Water
  • Sustaining Streams: Environmental Flows for Aquatic Ecosystems (4.02 MB) John Sanderson, Senior Freshwater Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy of Colorado
  • Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Overview of Concerns and Stewardship Activities (250 kb), Tyler
• Fleet
  • 2008 FS Fleet and Transportation (93 kb)
  • Yellowstone National Park (14.07 MB)
  • Clean Cities, Ernie Oakes Regional Clean Cities Project Manager, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Golden, Colorado
  • Maximizing The Return of Your Fuel Investment (703 kb), Blue Sun Biodiesel
• Sustainable Leadership
  • Wanted: Sustainability Leaders (121 kb), A. Bakiel
  • Ecos (365 kb), D. Olson
  • Menominee Sustainability (1.48 MB), M. Cook, College of Menominee Nation
  • Participant Ideas (37 kb)
• Green Purchasing
  • BioPreferred: Making a Difference with Biobased Products (229 kb), Shana Y. Love USDA Co-Program Manager
  • What Is Green Purchasing, Anyway? (140 kb) Dana Arnold Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
  • Buying Building Driving Saving (1.56 MB), GSA

10:00 am   Break—Networking and Display Browsing

10:30 am   Concurrent Tracks: Session 2 (Repeated)

12:30 pm   Luncheon Keynotes

• Ed Pinero, Federal Environmental Executive
• Boyd Rutherford, Assistant Secretary for Administration, USDA (1.14 MB)

 2:00 pm  Video Interlude: Ranger Station Extreme Makeover; New Employee Orientation Sustainable Operations Primer (wmv, 7.25 MB)

 2:10 pm  The Balance between Going National and What Can I Do?

• Roundtable session that garners feedback for national effort and allows attendees to commit to specific actions they can take when they get back home

 3:15 pm  Break—Networking and Display Browsing

 3:45 pm  Keynotes: Intergenerational Learning: Perceptions and Possibilities

• David Chase, Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots Program (1.39 MB)
• Shannon Burke, Summit Middle School
  • Net Zero Club (2.70 MB)
  • lessons of a geography teacher (1.12 MB)

 4:45 pm  Meeting Wrap-Up and Transfer of 2008 Summit Duties

 5:15 pm  Adjourn

Friday, November 16

 8:00 am – 12:00 pm    Related Events held at the Hyatt Regency Denver and the EPA Building

• Federal Network for Sustainability Meeting (EPA)
• Sustainable Operations Board of Directors Meeting (Hyatt)

Additional Information

• Participant List (48 kb)
• Rocky Mountain Region: Region-Wide Purchase of Energy /Water Conservation Items (117 kb)
• Micro Grants: Pagosa Ranger Station Xeriscaping Project (707 kb)
• Ongoing Carbon-Related Activities in Region 5 and the Pacific Southwest Research Station (840 kb), Larry Rabin, Coordinator of Research Planning and Reporting, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
• $ Show Me the Money $ (647 kb)
• Forest Service finds it easier to be green. (213 kb) Sunday, November 18, 2007, The Denver Post

[Photo] Western Oregon Zone Engineer Jonathan Heyl (Region 6) interviews Management Analyst Jennifer Hayes (Rocky Mountain Research Station) for the Sustainable Ops 2007 Round-up in Denver, Colo., November 14.
Photo by Janelle Smith, Communications and Legislative Affairs, Rocky Mountain Region.