U.S. participants at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, returned with lots of enthusiasm and commitment to work on a number of partnerships that were forming to further Sustainable Development activities at home and abroad.  A desire to strengthen domestic partnerships for sustainable development in the U.S. led to investigation of the emerging Landcare movement in Australia.  Begun 15 years ago as a coming together of many grass-roots efforts for conservation and environmental restoration in the agricultural sector, Landcare has become a national movement in Australia that embraces urban as well as rural groups and has expanded awareness and collaboration among government, private sector, nonprofit organizations, and individuals to accomplish what is often called the “triple bottom line” of environmental, economic and social sustainability.  This Green Infrastructure Forum will provide an opportunity to hear about Landcare from an Australian and will explore how a Landcare model might work in the U.S.

This event, one of a series of Green Infrastructure Forums and Workshops to discuss stewardship of park, woodlands, open space, recreation land, wildlife habitat, watersheds and air-sheds within the metropolitan Washington region, will feature comments from:

James McKee, Landcare Coordinator in Queensland, Australia, who is participating in numerous presentations and meetings about Landcare around the U.S. during a three-week visit in April and May.  James has many years experience with the Landcare movement http://www.landcareaustralia.com.au/.  He is currently the Director of Queensland Landcare Foundation, and Executive Director of International Centre for Excellence in Landcare (ICEL).  He has served as President of Toowoomba Landcare Group, and was the Regional Planning Officer with Queensland Murray Darling Committee, Inc. (a river basin restoration & conservation effort similar in scope to the Chesapeake Bay Program).
 
Ruth McWillams, National Sustainable Development Coordinator, USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC  http://www.fs.fed.us/. During the last 26 years, she has worked for 3 different agencies in 3 different mission areas of the Department of Agriculture (rural development, marketing and inspection, and natural resources).  In her current position, she coordinates agency involvement in interagency and multi-stakeholder sustainable development activities.  Ruth was active in preparing the U.S. Government for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, and continues to help coordinate follow-on partnerships as well as other Federal and national sustainable development activities. Ruth has degrees in Human Ecology from Cornell University and in consumer economics from the University of Maryland.