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PART C-2 REGIONAL PLANNING Regioual Plannin~ Process At the November 13 meeting in Minneapolis the Council approved the program plan for the Regional Planning Division which strengthens the Council's regional planning process by developing and implement- ing four major program objectives. The staff will: (l) develop and implement the Council's review of approved regional water resource management plans and transmit the plans to the President; (2) im- prove, the Council's comprehensive studies program and increase utili~ation of these studies by regional, State, and Federal agencies and the Congress; (3) improve Council support services and communication with the river basin commissions, agency and congressional attention to regional plans and priorities; and (4) reinitiate regional water resource management planning in areas outside of Title II river basin commission areas. To implement the initiatives the Council has appointed a Coordinating Group,and three Council Task Forces to identify information, policy, and procedural needs in their assigned areas. . The Task Forces are: (l) planning procedures and plan utilization, (2) improvement of comprehensive (Level B) studies, and (3) design of the Council's review process for regional water resources management plans. Each Task Force will present recommendation to the Council for action during 1980. Comprehensive Studies Task Force Early. in 1979, the Council began a review of Comprehensive (Level B and Special) Studies. Recently, a comprehensive Studies Task Force under the co-chairmanship of Lee Botts~ Chairman of the Great Lakes Basin Commission and Sheldon Boone, Director, River Basins Division, Soil Conservation Service, has been appointed to develop recommenda- tions to improve the program. The major plan and study recommendations produced under this program frequently become or are adopted as parts of regional plans by river basin commissions and other regional planning sponsors. A consultant's report was the basis for three workshops held by. the Task Force. Workshops participants .reflected a variety of approaches to Comprehensive st;udies and regional plan development, and focused in part on the way in which study elements and recommendations are used by the different levels of government. The Comprehensive Studies Task Force is expected to have recommendations On improving the.Comprehensive Studies process ready to present to the Council at the February meeting. C-18