The Steering Committee serves as a forum for information exchange and a mechanism to coordinate state and provincial policies and programs. Created by the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation on the Management of Lake Champlain in 1988, it is the only formal, international, tri-party, government-based institution currently focused on Lake Champlain. It meets about four times each year. An Executive Committee subset of the Steering Committee conducts the business of the LCBP between meetings.
Membership of the Steering Committee consists of senior staff representing state and provincial government in Vermont, New York, and Quebec, local government representatives, the Citizen Advisory Committee Chairs, the Technical Advisory Committee Chair, Heritage Area Program Advisory Committee Chair, Education and Outreach Advisory Committee Chair, seven US federal agency representatives (Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, USDA/NRCS, USEPA, USFWS), and a Lake Champlain Sea Grant representative. The Steering Committee serves the following roles in guiding implementation of Opportunities for Action:
facilitates communication and coordination among key players;
monitors and evaluates progress and produces a periodic State of the Lake report;
secures and directs funding;
updates Plan recommendations every two years based on changing environmental conditions, management programs and public input;
develops LCBP’s annual budget to ensure implementation;
negotiates commitments among agencies and groups;
seeks consistency in regulatory programs and standards (consistency does not predetermine that standards will be more restrictive or less restrictive than present standards);
provides technical and financial assistance to local communities and organizations.