More than 200 people attended the 2003 regional research and Extension water quality conference held at the Dolce Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington. The conference theme was the role of TMDL implementation in watershed restoration and was a follow up to last year’s research and Extension water quality conference. The conference brought together a broad range of expertise in the form of researchers, regulators, practitioners, and educators. The sessions provided opportunities for attendees to learn from their experiences: what’s been tried, what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, and what’s being researched. Forty-two oral and seventeen poster presentations were made on a wide range of topics including urban and rural best management practices, economic and institutional factors, political and social factors, implementation and effectiveness monitoring, roles for local input development and implementation, and educational outreach and technical assistance. One highlight of the conference was the keynote presentation by Read Smith, past President of the National Association of Conservation Districts and Palouse area farmer. Read’s presentation compared past and present techniques of farming practices and their effect on water quality and the progress we’ve made. Some conference attendees said that Read’s presentation was “a good voice for reason” and one person called it “the highlight of the whole conference.” Another highlight was the banquet speaker, Jane Frankenberger of Purdue University, who gave an inspiring presentation on how to incorporate research and extension into the TMDL implementation phase. Other presentations that made an impression with conference attendees were Dave Ward’s, Snohomish County Surface Water Management, “Bang for the Buck: Better Targeting of Public Education Efforts;” George Boggs’, Whatcom Conservation District, “Achieving TMDL Bacterial Goals through Conservation Plan Implementation;” and Dennis Lynch’s, USGS, “Background Sources of Phosphorus in the Tualatin River Basin: Implications for the TMDL Process, Oregon.” Conference attendees also said that the sessions “exceeded my expectations” and that “all the sessions and individual presentations were exceptionally well done.” Based on results from the evaluation forms, the majority of conference attendees agreed that the conference was well organized, the content was relevant and interesting, and the location and facility were first class. In fact, one attendee commented that the conference was a “good forum to hear about innovative and state-of-the-art methods being used,” and another said that the conference was “extremely effective and all inclusive” and that it was “a must for any TMDL planner or pre-TMDL project area.” Many attendees commented on the affordability of this

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension System (CSREES). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	conference, which was provided by generous support from the USDA-CSREES, Washington State Department of Ecology, the State of Washington Water Research Center, and Clark County. Other contributing/participating organizations that helped make this conference a success include the Alaska Water and Environmental Research Center, the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service, the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System, the Oregon Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability, Oregon State University Extension Service, Washington State University Extension, and the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 10. One attendee summed up the conference by saying “excellent conference with great material in an ideal location—great job!” The conference provided ample opportunities for discussion and dialog and concluded with an interactive panel discussion on the financing of TMDL implementation. The majority of conference attendees came to the conference to learn and share information about TMDLs and the majority said that they will use the information for current and future TMDL work and for communicating and contacting others regarding TMDLs in the region. In addition, Extension personnel and researchers now have a better understanding of the problems and opportunities for applied research. The wide range of organizations and individuals represented at the conference will help ensure that TMDL implementation in watershed restoration will happen in an effective manner in the region.
		National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension System. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Ag. Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	CSREES is the Cooperative States Research, Education and Extension Service, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

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