Take advantage of a reduced rate. Early bird and scholarship deadline: August 15. See below for details.

Ever heard of a conference with a session on the river? River Rally's first session on September 29, 2009 is on the North Saskatchewan River!

What is River Rally? River Rally is a conference to support citizens working to protect watersheds in Alberta.

Sessions include:

 

• Effective fundraising
• Leveraging volunteers
• Utilizing free and low cost technology
• Accessing free data for your State of the Watershed report
• Communicate your water work!

Here are a few of our featured speakers:

Eric Eckl, Water Words that Work

Eric directs Water Words That Work, a company that assists nature protection and pollution control organizations with their behaviour change, fundraising, and issue efforts. He has appeared in countless news stories and is a frequent speaker at environmental, marketing, and technology conferences.

Wendy Wilson, River Network

Wendy is the National Director of Organizational Development with River Network, an organization that is geared to help watershed groups be effective in all aspects of their work. Wendy oversees a cadre of professional trainers who assist watershed groups across the country in fund development, board governance and non-profit management.

Norine Ambrose, Cows and Fish

Norine has spent almost 10 years overseeing or leading research projects completed by Cows and Fish and works with landowners and communities to help them recognize the value of their riparian areas, and what they can do to maintain these areas as healthy, productive pieces of our landscape.

Held September 29 to October 1 in Devon, Alberta, there will be a variety of sessions helping groups who are working on water issues to communicate more effectively, raise money, leverage more resources, and engage citizens into their work. River Rally 2009 is hosted by Alberta Ecotrust Foundation and Petro-Canada in collaboration with Water Matters, North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance, and Alberta Stewardship Network.

• Click here for the full conference program
• Learn more about River Rally
• Register for River Rally

Early Registration: $110 (Before August 15, 2009)
Regular Registration: $140

Scholarships: If the price of the conference registration is not affordable for you or your stewardship group, please let us know if you wish to apply for a subsidy by August 15, 2009, when you register on-line. There are limited subsidies available and the conference committee will review all requests and notify participants by September 15th.

Who should attend?

Anyone working on watershed protection in Alberta is welcome, including:

Water Leaders — Staff and volunteers from Watershed Stewardship groups (stream, lake, river and wetland groups), government agencies, NGOs, and companies working on watershed management, stewardship, and protection within Alberta.

Water Practitioners — Individuals who would like to join a growing learning community of citizens interested in water issues within Alberta.

Water Learners — Professionals, students, and citizens from all corners and watersheds in Alberta who want to engage in collective creativity and intelligence in order to achieve better cooperation and results.