Synthesis Team:

• A Meeting of the Synthesis Team took place November 16-17. The team made further progress in developing the Synthesis Report outline and to develop a timeline and assignments for next steps (see Synthesis Team News).

Scenarios:

• A Synthesis Team sub-group distributed a revised guidance document on socio-economic frameworks to regions and sectors October 16th.
• NPA Data Services, Inc. distributed two CD-ROM disks containing the middle (baseline) growth scenarios for the period 1997-2025. Due to limited supply, one set was sent to each region and each sector. The next mailouts will contain the high and low growth projections for 1997-2025 (mid-December) and the high, middle and low growth projections for the period 2025-2050 (January).

Sectors:

• Leaders for each of the sectors participated in a conference call with Tony Janetos in early November to discuss progress and ask questions of the Synthesis Team co-chair.
  
• The water sector held a meeting in West Palm Beach, FL September 14-16 inviting representatives of all regions and all other sectors.

Regions:

• The nineteenth regional scoping workshop, the Native Peoples/Native Homelands, took place October 28-November 1 in Albuquerque, NM.
• Many regions held major follow-up workshops or meetings including Alaska (workshop October 29-30), Metropolitan East Coast (assessment meeting November 6), Central Great Plains (steering committee September 9-10), Mid-Atlantic (stakeholder meeting October), Pacific Northwest (water resources meetings), Rocky Mountains (climatology-hydrology focus group), and SW/Colorado River (urban water and ranching October 22-23).

Other:

• NASA announced the winners of the Regional Earth Science Application Centers (RESACs), including George Seielstad, the PI of the Northern Great Plains region. Other awardees closely involved in the National Assessment include Roger Bales of the University of Arizona.