Letter from The Governor on The Governor's Restoration Forum
Letter from The Governor on The Governor's Restoration Forum
Dear Interested Party:
I am writing to provide you and your organization with an update on an exciting conference planned for
June 8 and 9 of this year in Billings, Montana at the Sheraton Hotel. Held in conjunction with the semiannual
Billings Land Reclamation Symposium, the conference is entitled the Governor's Restoration
Forum.
Throughout Montana and the West, we are seeing the emergence of a new economy. In some ways, this
new economy resembles our traditional economy; much of the work involves moving dirt and creating
good-paying construction jobs. However, there is a difference. The goal of this work is to restore
landscapes and ecosystems so that they may provide increased productivity, ecological integrity, and
business opportunity.
From Seeley to Colstrip, thousands of Montanans are participating in the restoration economy.
Restoration not only cleans up a legacy of past mistakes, it provides a technological blueprint for doing it
right in the future.
The purpose of the forum is to bring together conservation, labor, business, scientific, tribal, and
community leaders to advance the restoration of natural ecosystem, to advocate a revitalized federal
commitment to fund restoration and reclamation activities, and to create jobs.
For more information on the Governor's Restoration Forum, I urge you to go to www.restoration.mt.gov.
At this website you can register online, view the agenda, or learn more about the topic of restoration in
general.
The Forum includes a series of small group breakout sessions that will examine restoration sub-topics indepth
and from a variety of perspectives. The goal of these sessions is to examine priorities and
obstacles as we seek to develop a collaborative blueprint for growing this economy.
Please share this upcoming event with your employees, members, and organization leadership. Our
success depends upon your participation and ideas. By working together, we will grow our economy, and
ensure that the next generation of Montanans continues to enjoy our high quality of life.
Sincerely,
BRIAN SCHWEITZER
Governor
http://www.restoration.mt.gov/docs/restoration_letter.pdf