GLRC Conveners Meeting: December 3, 2004

To begin implementation of convening a "regional collaboration of national significance for the Great Lakes" as called for in President Bush's Executive Order (PDF, 39Kb), the "Great Lakes Regional Collaboration" (GLRC) first met on Friday, December 3, 2004 in Chicago, Illinois.

Principal Conveners attending the meeting included Governors, Mayors, Tribal leaders, members of the Congressional delegation, and members of the President's cabinet. The GLRC Conveners Meeting provided a forum for the region's leaders, in the presence of interested stakeholders, to declare publicly and formally their support for the development of a widely understood and broadly supported strategy with actions to further protect and restore the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration process.

The ceremonial Conveners Meeting had two purposes:

  1. The convening body acknowledged the reasons behind launching the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. By signing the Great Lakes Declaration (PDF, 10Kb), the Conveners pledged to support the GLRC process to devise an integrated, collaborative restoration/protection strategy for the Great Lakes basin.
  2. There was a ceremonial signing of the GLRC Framework (PDF, 39Kb) document by spokespeople or representatives of each of the convening groups. Immediately following the ceremony and for some period of time thereafter, this document was available for signing by additional Conveners (mayors, governors, federal government representatives, Congressional delegates, Tribes). The GLRC Framework defines the commitment of the signatory bodies to meaningful participation in the GLRC and the development of the Great Lakes Restoration and Protection Strategy.

In addition to the Conveners Meeting, an inaugural meeting of the Issue Area Strategy Teams was held in the afternoon. The Issue Area Strategy Teams, made up of governmental and non-governmental organizational representatives and individuals who volunteered to serve on the Teams, were the working bodies that were charged with producing draft recommended strategic action plans for consideration by members of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. Their recommendations formed the basis for the GLRC Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes.

Scroll to top