Highlight of the workshop will be a two-hour, narrated river cruise on the Niagara Clipper Oct. 21, from 2-4 p.m. Scientists and naturalists will demonstrate how they monitor the river's health, as well as discuss the river's aquatic life, remediation, ecological importance and history.

The cruise and workshop are open to elected officials and policymakers, the media, educators, sportsmen and members of other groups involved in remediation efforts. Opening remarks will be given by Joseph DePinto, director of UB's Great Lakes Program and Bruce Kirschner, RAP coordinator of the IJC. Sessions will include discussion of the St. Clair, St. Lawrence and Detroit rivers and U.S. and Canadian perspectives on the Niagara River Remedial Action Plan.

Alice Chamberlin, U.S. commissioner to the IJC, will be the guest speaker at a dinner Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. One of six commissioners on the IJC, which assists local governments in solving problems affecting the Great Lakes, she will discuss the commission's perspectives on binational RAP cooperation.

The conference is being held in conjunction with the New York Sea Grant Extension Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Lower Great Lakes Fishery Resources Office, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy.