The Senate will continue to negotiate amendments on the surface transportation bill. The House will consider legislation to authorize the Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for hydropower development. The House is also expected to consider legislation to improve access to capital markets for small and medium-sized companies.

Arctic Workshop, March 7-9, 2012. The Workshop is hosted by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The meeting is open to all interested in the Arctic, and will consist of a series of talks and poster sessions covering all aspects of high-latitude environments. Previous Arctic Workshops have included presentations on arctic and antarctic climate, archeology, environmental geochemistry, geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, soils, ecology, oceanography, Quaternary history, and more. A traditional strength of the Workshop has been Arctic paleoenvironments. Click here.

The Science of Ocean and Coastal Restoration, March 7, 2012. The Consortium for Ocean Leadership will hold a Public Policy Forum in the Capitol Hill Visitors Center (Room SVC 210/212) on Capitol Hill. This year's theme is the science of ocean and coastal restoration. The Forum will begin at 8:30 a.m. and features 3 panels with various panelists from around the country and remarks by several Members of Congress. Invited speakers include EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Senator Begich, Senator Cardin, and USARC Chair Fran Ulmer. Details here.  

US Takes Close Look at Alaska's Arctic. The U.S. Department of Interior announced there was a need to take a careful look at the arctic landscape in Alaska for the sake of better management. "The arctic's unique ecosystem calls for a landscape-scale approach to management that cuts across agencies, jurisdictions, and boundaries," Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes said in a statement. "We need to work toward a long-term management framework for the Arctic that recognizes both the resource potential of the region and the irreplaceable natural resources it contains." The Interior Department hosted a delegation from the federal government's science community to chart an ecosystem-based management framework for the Alaskan Arctic. Outcome Magazine 

EU Foreign Affairs Chief Expresses Commitment to Arctic Region. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton was in the Arctic region on Wednesday for high level talks with Norwegian leaders. It is her first official visit to a region which has rapidly grown in importance to the EU and rest of the world in recent times, not least due to its oil and gas reserves. Developments in the Arctic are of even more strategic, economic and environmental interest for the EU now than when the commission's first communication on the region was issued in 2008. The Parliament 

Millions to Research on Russia and High North: The Norwegian Government gives $105 million for research on Russia and the High North. The funding will be used over five years by the Research Council of Norway's program on Russia and International Relations in the High North/Arctic. Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Norway is funding the program because it aims to be a leader in High North and Russian knowledge. Research topics include research on Russia, research on the High North, and research on the implications of increased Asian interest in the High North. Barents Observer

Hunters Take Aim at Green Groups. Canadian hunting groups are loaded for bear after the sport hunting of polar bears got some bad international press this week. A story in the U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail reported that rich Chinese sportsmen were trophy hunting endangered polar bears in Canada's Far North. "It was very biased and misleading," said Glen Williams, a wildlife consultant with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc in Iqaluit. "Polar bears are not endangered in Canada; they are probably the best managed wildlife species in the country," Williams said. "There's millions of dollars spent each year doing surveys and population estimates on polar bears." Toronto Sun

 No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) Arctic Caucus Roundtable, March 8, 2012. The PNWER Arctic Caucus will hold a roundtable discuss in the U.S Capitol on the Alaska Northern Waters Task Force report; 'A Northern Vision' and Economic Strategy for the Northern Territories; Alaska Commission to develop an Alaska Arctic Strategy; Opportunities to do research on the Arctic in the North; Partnership between Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories on Oil Spill Response and Research and Rescue; US and Canada Icebreaker Fleet; and, Recommendation that the US and Canada Begin Discussions on Points of Collaboration for the 2013-2017 Leadership of the Arctic Council. Confirmed participants include Alaska Senator Lesil McGuire; Minister of Economic Development, Northwest Territories David Ramsay; Minister of Economic Development and the Environment, Yukon, Currie Dixon; US Senator Lisa Murkowski; Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission Fran Ulmer; Alaska Representative Reggie Joule; Alaska Senator Bert Stedman; Alaska Senator Lyman Hoffman; and, Alaska Representative Bob Herron.

Fiscal 2013 Budget: Native American Programs, March 8, 2012. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the fiscal 2013 budget request for Native American programs.

Arctic Science Summit Week 2012, April 20-22, 2012. The summit will provide opportunities for international coordination, collaboration, and cooperation in all areas of arctic science. Side meetings organized by stakeholders in arctic science and policy are also expected. More information here. 

From Knowledge to Action, April 22-27, 2012. The conference will bring together over 2,000 arctic and antarctic researchers, policy and decision-makers, and a broad range of interested parties from academia, industry, non-government, education and circumpolar communities including indigenous peoples. The conference is hosted by the Canadian IPY Program Office, in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, among other groups. Each day of the conference will feature a program of keynote speakers, plenary panel discussions, parallel science sessions, as well as dedicated poster sessions. The conference-wide plenaries will explore themes related to topics of polar change, global linkages, communities and health, ecosystem services, infrastructure, resources and security. Other sessions will provide the opportunity to present and discuss the application of research findings, policy implications and how to take polar knowledge to action. Click here. 

USARC Commission Meeting, April 27-28, 2012. The 97th meeting of the USARC will be held in Montreal, Canada, in conjunction with the "From Knowledge to  

Action" IPY meeting referred to above. The Commission will meet on April 27-28, and will meet jointly with the Canadian Polar Commission on the afternoon of the 27th, to discuss common interests in Arctic Research. Details to follow. 

Arctic Forum 2012, April 30-May 1, 2012. The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. will host the forum in conjunction with their 24th annual meeting. Both events will be in Washington, D.C. The Arctic Forum is part of the American Geophysical Union's Science Policy Conference, which will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The Conference will focus on the science that helps inform policymakers' decisions. Within the Science Policy Conference, the Arctic Forum will assess gaps and priority needs for arctic scientific information to inform decision makers in policy

formation for three key themes:

                - Governance and Security in the Arctic;

                - Transportation and Energy Development; and

                - Changing Arctic Ecosystems.

The Forum will examine the current state of policymaker and public understanding of the issues. An important goal will be to foster an increased capacity for dialogue and action on arctic science-policy issues.

American Polar Society 75th Anniversary Meeting and Symposium, "The Polar Regions in the 21st Century: Globalization, Climate Change and Geopolitics", May 2-4, 2012, The Explorers Club, NYC. For 75 years, the American Polar Society has both documented and communicated polar activities to the interested world. This meeting will bring together the current leaders in science, government, commerce, and diplomacy for a state-of-the-art forecast of the next seventy-five years in a world influenced more than ever before by the destiny of the Arctic and Antarctic. Click here.  

The Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012. The conference will be held in Tyumen, Russia, and is organized and hosted by Russia. The last conference was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Click here.  

15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, August 5-10, 2012. This event is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Society for Circumpolar Health, and the International Union for Circumpolar Health.  The forum will consider community participatory research and indigenous research; women's health, family health, and well-being; food security and nutrition; social determinants of health; environmental and occupational health; infectious and chronic diseases; climate change health impacts; health service delivery and infrastructure; and behavioral health. Click here. 

Arctic/Inuit/Connections: Learning from the Top of the World , October 24-28, 2012.  The 18th Inuit Studies Conference, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, will be held in Washington, DC. The conference will consider heritage museums and the North; globalization: an Arctic story; power, governance and politics in the North; the '"new" Arctic: social, cultural and climate change; and Inuit education, health, language, and literature. For more information, click here.