The meeting was a follow up to a coordination meeting between the two agencies in July 2003. Current efforts by the MDNR to develop river assessments and river management plans could benefit from Service funding programs such as Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Fish Passage and Coastal Programs. The meeting was an opportunity for Service participants to better understand the process for development of these MDNR planning documents and an opportunity for MDNR personnel to better understand the funding processes for the identified programs. Priorities identified in the river assessments are consistent with objectives of the Service's funding programs and could lead to much closer working relationships between the two agencies. Procedural changes were agreed upon to provide for better coordination between the two agencies.

Providing overviews of the Service programs was Project Leader McClain (Alpena FRO) for the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, Biologist Susan Wells (Alpena FRO) for the Fish Passage Program and Biologist Bob Kavetsky (East Lansing FO) for the Coastal Program. In addition, Project Leader Mark Holey and Biologist Stewart Cogswell from the Green Bay FRO participated for the Service. Michigan DNR was represented by Basin Coordinators Tammy Newcomb (Lake Huron), Jay Wesley (Lake Michigan), Steve Scott (Lake Superior) and Kurt Newman (Lake Erie). An overview of the Michigan DNR River Assessment and Management planning process was provide by Jay Wesley.