Arizona PARC Organizational Structure Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) is a multi-sector partnership involving all individuals, organizations, and agencies with an interest in amphibian and reptile conservation. PARC’s mission is “To conserve amphibians, reptiles, and their habitats as integral parts of our ecosystem and culture through proactive and coordinated public/private partnerships.” Arizona PARC is a state-level working group of PARC’s Southwest Regional Working Group (which also includes California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas). AZ PARC works primarily through its 5 Technical Working Groups: 1) Education and Outreach, 2) Inventory and Monitoring, 3) Policy, Regulation, and Trade, 4) Management, and 5) Research. AZ PARC Technical Working Groups focus on state-level issues, but will communicate and integrate with regional and national working groups on state-level, regional, and national issues. A Web Site Committee manages AZ PARC’s web site. Finally, a Funding Committee has been proposed to work toward generating resources to support AZ PARC’s efforts and may be added in the future. PARC includes stakeholders from state and federal agencies, academia, NGOs, and private industry, as well as recreational herpers and hobbyists, hunters, and other private individuals. The AZ PARC Steering Committee is composed of the State Coordinator and chairs of each of the technical working groups and committees (see list of current representatives below). The primary purpose of the Steering Committee is to maintain communication between working groups and with the general membership, handle organizational business, and help coordinate the annual state meetings. Each technical working group and committee is obligated to encourage participation from as diverse stakeholders as possible. Technical working group chairs will be selected at the state meeting (by vote of the general membership, if multiple volunteers are available). New volunteers to chair technical working groups will be encouraged, while maintaining at least 50% continuity on the Steering Committee from year to year. Decision making within technical working groups, committees, and at the state level is conducted by consensus, defined as general agreement without anyone dissenting so strongly that "they are unable to live with" the group's decision. In the spirit of and consistent with PARC’s mission, all efforts will be made to modify decisions through open discussion so that all members who wish to participate can be in consensus. These decisions will typically be made at annual state meetings; however, decisions that require action prior to a state meeting will be discussed electronically. Electronic discussions will be announced to the membership via e-mail and conducted on an appropriate forum on the AZ PARC web site. Forum discussions will continue for a period of no less than 3 weeks, to be specified in the initial announcement, and consensus will be determined by all those participating. Electronic discussions will be open to the public, but the actual consensus-based decision making will be limited to Arizona residents registered as AZ PARC members. Notification of the opportunity to consent or dissent with a formal decision recommendation will be made in a subsequent e-mail to the membership with a password for accessing a private forum on which to weigh in. In all cases, it is important for interested individuals to actively participate. Working groups and committees, including the steering committee, conduct their business as often as practical to accomplish their objectives. Communication occurs by physical meetings, as necessary, but much is handled through e-m AZ PARC Structure.200405242.doc ail and teleconferencing. State meetings are held annually. All members are invited and encouraged to attend all technical working group and steering committee meetings. Meeting and other general announcements, as well as communications between working groups and the general membership, are handled via e-mail and postings to the AZ PARC web site. In general, mass e-mails will be limited to announcements that additional information has been made available on the AZ PARC web site; issues requiring feedback will be discussed through the site’s forums to avoid unnecessary spamming of the entire membership. AZ PARC State Steering Committee, 2004 State Coordinator Randy Babb, Arizona Game and Fish Department Technical Working Group Chairs PRT: Jeff Servoss, US Fish and Wildlife Service Research: Eric Stitt, University of Arizona Management: Trevor Hare, Sky Island Alliance Education: Craig Ivanyi, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum I&M: Andy Holycross, Arizona State University Web Site Committee Chair Tom Brennan, Arizona State University