(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey will attend a “listening session” in Redmond, Ore., on Tuesday Aug. 22, 2006. The session, which also will be attended by Deputy Environmental Protection Agency Associate Administrator Rick Otis and NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator Bob Lohn, will take place at the Expo Center of the Deschutes County Fairgrounds.

Please note that the starting time has been changed to 8:30 a.m. A news media availability will be held from 8:00 to 8:20 a.m.

The session is one in a series of public meetings across the country to solicit and exchange ideas on incentives, partnership programs, and regulations that can improve results and promote cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships. In addition to Interior and EPA, the Agriculture Department, the Commerce Department and the White House Council on Environmental Quality are sponsoring the sessions.