Post-Conference Workshop – 2018 TxDOT Environmental Conference

Two workshops will be held after the 2018 TxDOT Environmental Conference. You may indicate your desire to attend one of them through the online registration form. Note: Participation for each workshop is limited to the first 30 who register.

Interpretive Writing for Cultural Resources
Public Involvement and Section 106: Effective Strategies for Compliance and Public Engagement

Interpretive Writing for Cultural Resources

Back by popular demand, museum expert Erin McClelland will lead a day-long workshop on interpretive writing for cultural resources. This workshop is designed for historical and archeological consultants interested in working with TxDOT to tell stories around the archeology and history uncovered beyond the road. The workshop will incorporate exercises and examples based on historic places and transportation history and will give you a chance to try your newly-found skill in interpretation.

Public Involvement and Section 106: Effective Strategies for Compliance and Public Engagement

An SRI Foundation Workshop presented in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Attendance is limited to TxDOT employees.

Agenda

Thursday, September 13, 2018
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.	Introductions, Workshop Schedule
9:30 – 9:45 a.m.	Who are the Public in the Context of Section 106 Compliance? The instructor will facilitate a group discussion to answer this question, writing the answers on a flip chart. The instructor will then highlight a definition to be used for this workshop, using the answers on the flip chart. For this workshop, members of the public include, but are not limited to: Landowners affected by a project Members of the public with an interest in historic places in the project area Local governments and agencies, such as county historical commissions and CLGs And any other member of the public who wants to be involved The instructor will then discuss how some of these members of the public are also Section 106 consulting parties, and may also be involved in NEPA public involvement.
9:45 – 10:30 a.m.	Review of Section 106 and Linkages with NEPA and Section 4(f) Using colored 8 ½ X 11 sheets of paper, the instructor will tape to the wall sheets of paper showing the steps for an EA. Then the instructor will very quickly review the steps in the EA process. The instructor will then ask if anyone has any questions about the steps for doing an EA. Next, volunteers will place the sheets for Section 106 on the wall (sheets will be a different color), placing them in the right order and with the right linkage with the EA process. The idea is to match up the steps of the statutes, understanding that things are not totally linear and some steps are done throughout the processes, especially public involvement. Then the instructor has the same discussion about Section 106 as with the EA. The instructor will use this part of the exercise to stress the efficiencies gained by linking Section 106 public involvement with NEPA public involvement. Then the above process is repeated for the steps for Section 4(f), which will be on a different set of colored sheets. Then the instructor will replace the EA papers with the steps for CEs, and then have volunteers re-arrange the location of the Section 106 and Section 4(f) steps. This will most likely require the “scrunching” of the Section 106 and 4(f) steps in order to meet the shorter time line and fewer steps in doing a CE.
10:30 – 11:00 a.m.	What Has Been Your Experience with Trying to Link Public Involvement and Section 106 Compliance? This will be an open discussion. The instructor will ask participants to share their experiences linking Section 106 and public involvement (e.g. both within and outside NEPA public involvement). This includes good and bad experiences, and any challenges they encountered. Results of this discussion will be summarized on a flip chart for later use.
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.	Effective Strategies for Section 106 Compliance and Public Engagement: An Unscientific National Perspective Using a PowerPoint, the instructor will discuss examples of strategies used by other state DOTs to effectively integrate Section 106 and public involvement. Will also include examples of where state DOT strategies did not work and how they addressed the problems they encountered. Presentation will touch on such topics as: Public involvement does not equal a public meeting No one showing up at a public meeting does not mean that the public does not care about the project/Section 106 issues Public involvement may be necessary on some CEs – cannot assume that just because a project is processed using a CE there is no need for public involvement Members of the public (i.e., consulting parties, especially a local government/agency OWJ) are involved in Section 4(f) compliance for historic sites
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon	Case Study Workshop participants will break out into small groups to work on a real-life Texas case study. The small groups will answer sets of questions on how to address NEPA, Section 106, Section 4(f), and public involvement for the case study, following TxDOT policies and procedures.
12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m.	Lunch
1:30- 4:00 p.m.	Case Study: Continued
4:00 -4:30 p.m.	How to Improve Integration of Section 106 Compliance and Public Involvement? Instructor will review the flip chart notes from the morning’s discussion on participants’ experiences linking Section 106 and public involvement, focusing on the challenges. Then workshop participants will identify and discuss approaches and tools for addressing these challenges. The instructor will record these approaches and tools on a flip chart.