Red River Valley Association To Hold Annual Meeting, Convention
The Red River Valley Association (RRVA) will hold its annual navigation meeting and convention February 22–23 in Shreveport, La., at the Sam’s Town Hotel & Convention Center.
Day one will include a U.S. Coast Guard maritime security meeting for the Ouachita and Red River group, the Red River Valley Association’s navigation meeting, the association’s nomination and resolution committee meeting and a meeting of the Arkansas Red River Commission. Day one wraps up with an icebreaker reception and dinner.
Day two will open with an address from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division and reports from the Tulsa, Fort Worth, Vicksburg and Little Rock Engineer Districts. Next on the agenda is a report from the National Waterways Conference.
Attendees can expect a report from Carbon Rho LLC, a company that hopes to purchase forested land within the Red River Valley in order to sell carbon offsets. Brian Thomas, CEO and partner of Carbon Rho, is expected to address the association. In addition, Bruce Lambert, gateway director for the Maritime Administration’s Central Gulf and Southern Rivers Gateway, will discuss the feasibility of container-on-barge shipping on the Red River and potential funding sources to make it a reality. With container shipping growing throughout the nation, and persistent talk to develop it on the inland waterways, container-on-barge will be a relevant topic for the association, said Rich Brontoli, the longtime RRVA executive director who recently retired from full-time service.
“We need to encourage folks to look into that and to know people are trying it,” he said.
Afternoon sessions during day two of the convention will include reports on the Red River Basin Study, agriculture updates from both Louisiana’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Louisiana Farm Bureau and reports from recent closures at both Old River Lock, where the Red and Mississippi rivers meet, and Lindy C. Boggs Lock, the lowermost structure on the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway.
Information regarding registration and hotel reservations is available online at www.rrva.org. Hotel reservations should be made directly with Sam’s Town. The deadline for the block rate is February 8.
The convention will also be a chance for members to meet the association’s new executive director, Emily Mott, who took over at the start of the year.
“The Red River is vital to so many people in the four-state Red River Valley area, economically through commerce and navigation, as a source of recreation, irrigation and managing the risks of flooding,” Mott said. “I’m proud to be a part of the ongoing development of this precious resource.”
Brontoli remains in an advisory role through the leadership transition.
