United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Public Affairs (A-107)
Washington, DC 20460
Volume 9
Number 2
October 1983
oEPA JOURNAL
Saving Our
Nation's Wetlands
I
mm
-------
Bogs,
Swamps
and
Marshes —
And Why We
Need Them
In this issue, EPA Journal re-
ports on the importance of
wetlands to every human
being.
U.S. Sen. John Chafee leads
off with an article in which he
notes the key role played by
wetlands in survival of fish
and wildlife, the maintenance
of water quality, ground water
recharge and flood control.
The Senator, who is
chairman of the Sub-
committee on Environmental
Pollution of the Senate Com-
mittee on Environment and
Public Works, observes that
wetlands provide millions of
Americans with recreational
opportunities such as boating,
birding, hunting, and fishing.
Despite the fact that wet-
lands contribute $20 to S40
billion a year to the nation's
economy, the Senator stated
that nearly half a million acres
are destroyed each year "and
the need to conserve wetlands
has never been more critical
than it is today."
Another article gives a sta-
tus overview on efforts to re-
store water quality in Che-
sapeake Bay which EPA
Administrator William D.
Ruckelshaus has described as
"a national treasure."
A companion piece gives a
report on an organization that
has learned how to create
marshes by planting aquatic
grasses. These grasses are of
key importance because of
their role in such functions as
reducing shoreline erosion,
providing food for waterfowl
and creating a nursery area
for fish and crabs.
Leading a major effort in
the private sector to pre-
serve wetlands is the Nature
Conservancy. An article re-
lates how the conservancy,
with the help of a $25 million
grant from the Richard King
Phragmites, a long-stemmed reed plant which grows over most of the world, often thrives in
wet/and areas which have been drained or polluted.
Mellon Foundation, is striving
to raise a total of $50 million
to conserve endangered wet-
lands.
The use of both natural and
artificial wetlands for advanced
treatment of wastewater is
also reviewed in this issue.
The article recognizes the
need to be on the alert for
potential ecological problems
in using wetlands for
rennovating wastewater. An
article about life at Assateague
in the fall season completes
the coverage of wetlands.
A significant feature of this
issue is an interview with
Alvin L. Aim, EPA Deputy
Administrator, about the
Agency's future management
strategies and goals.
The magazine also reports
on some key appointments for
EPA and gives a roundup on
appointments to the
Agency regional administrator
posts around the country.
-------
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Public Affairs (A-107)
Washington, DC 20460
Volume 9
Number 2
October 1983
vvEPA JOURNAL
William D. Ruckelshaus, Administrator
Charles D. Pierce, Editor
Articles
EPA is charged by Congress to
protect the Nation's land, air and
water systems. Under a mandate of
national environmental laws, the
Agency strives to formulate and
implement actions which lead to a
compatible balance between human
activities and the ability of natural
systems to support and nurture life.
The EPA Journal is published
quarterly by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. The Administrator
of EPA has determined that the
publication of this periodical is
necessary in the transaction of the
public business required by law of
this Agency. Use of funds for print-
ing this periodical has been approved
by the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget through
4/1/84. Views expressed by authors
do not necessarily reflect EPA policy.
Contributions and inquiries should be
addressed to the Editor (A-107),
Waterside Mall, 401 M St., S.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20460. No permis-
sion necessary to reproduce contents
except copyrighted photos and other
materials.
Saving Our Nation's
Wetlands 3
Key Chesapeake Bay
Conference 5
Conservancy Drive
Advances 7
Maker of Marshes 9 Who's Who
in the Regions 18
Autumn at Assateague 13 More Key
Appointments 20
Wetlands Waste
Treatment 14
EPA Management
Strategies and Goals
16
Front Cover: Wild ponies browsing
on Assateague Island wetlands
grasses. In background are the sand
dunes which help protect island from
the ravages of the ocean.
Photo Credits: Steve De/aney,
Photri, Documerica, Edgar
Garbisch Jr.
Design Credits: Robert Flanagan.
Ron Farrah.
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-------
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Saving
Our Nation's
Wetlands
By
U.S. Senator John H. Chafee
Senator John H, Chafee
When the first European settlers came to
North America, they discovered vast
stretches of virgin forest, pristine prairie, and
wetlands of many kinds. Like the native
Americans they encountered, these settlers
depended on wetlands for waterfowl, fish,
and edible plants.
Unlike the Indian, however, the European
settlers and their descendants did not
preserve the wetlands that helped to sustain
them. The nation's original base of 215
million acres of wetlands has diminished to
99 million acres today.
Much less than half of the original wet-
lands remain in Rhode Island and other
Northeastern states. Nearly a half-million
acres continue to disappear annually
throughout the United States.
The need to conserve wetlands has never
been more critical than it is today. At
present, the modification and the destruction
of wetland habitat is the single most
important factor affecting migratory water-
fowl abundance.
Wetlands, however, are important for
many reasons other than the conservation of
waterfowl. They are biologically and eco-
nomically important to the lives of every
American.
They contribute to the production of a rich
commercial and recreational fishery harvest.
Equally important, they provide millions of
Americans with opportunities for recreational
activities such as boating and bird watching,
support a major portion of the Nation's
multi-million dollar annual fur harvest,
provide savings in natural flood and erosion
control, and help to supply the Nation's
increasing demand for safe, pure water. In
all, wetlands contribute from $20 to $40
billion a year to the national economy.
For far too long, wetlands have been
considered wastelands. They have been
drained or filled and converted to other uses,
often with technical and financial assistance
through various governmental programs,
including those for navigation, flood control,
and agricultural development.
Assateague Island marsh
Sen. John H. Chafee of Rhode Island is chair-
man of the Subcommittee on Environmental
Pollution of the Senate Committee on Envi-
ronment and Public Works.
OCTOBER 1983
-------
What Are Wetlands?
"Wetlands" encompass many different types
of living communities, including salt
marshes, alpine bogs, prairie potholes,
bottomland hardwoods, and tundra. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting
an inventory of wetlands, and defines
wetlands generally as those areas "where
saturation with water is the dominant factor
determining the nature of soil development
and the types of plant and animal communi-
ties living in the soil and on the surface."
According to the Service, "the single feature
that most wetlands share is soil or substrate
that is at least periodically saturated with or
covered by water."
On May 19, 1983, I introduced S. 1329,
entitled the "Emergency Wetlands Resources
Act of 1983." S. 1329 contains a definition
of wetlands that is similar to that used by the
Fish and Wildlife Service:
"wetlands" means land transitional
between terrestial and aquatic systems
where the water table is usually at or near
the surface or the land is covered by
shallow water. Generally, wetlands are
areas inundated by surface or ground
water frequently enough and for long
enough duration to support a prevalence
of plants or animals typically adapted to
life in saturated soil conditions including
but not limited to such areas as coastal or
in/and marshes or estuaries, river-
associated, water-saturated areas, inland
lakes, potholes, bogs, mudflats, or
bottom/and hardwood forests,
The definition of wetlands in S. 1329
combines the best features of definitions
now in use by the Fish and Wildlife Service
for the Wetlands Inventory and by the EPA
and the Army Corps of Engineers for the
Section 404 program of the Clean Water
Act. The wetlands covered by the definition
are important. Most are not adjacent to open
water that can support vessel traffic.
Wetlands Values
The nation's wetlands are critical to the
survival of fish and wildlife, the maintenance
of water quality, ground water recharge, and
flood control.
• Wetlands support, by conservative
estimate, a $12 billion per year commercial
and recreational fishing industry. In Alaska,
some 24,000 people are employed in the
saimon industry and their livelihood depends
upon the preservation of pristine streams and
wetlands where salmon breed. On the
Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, species dependent
on wetlands make up two-thirds of the cash
value of all fisheries.
Sixty to 70 percent of the 10 to 12 million
waterfowl in the lower 48 states reproduce in
the "prairie potholes" of the Midwest, and
millions of ducks winter in the bottomland
hardwoods of the South Central states.
Naturalists and sportsmen value these, and
many non-game animal and plant species are
dependent on the same wetland habitat.
• Wetlands serve as natural pollution treat-
ment plants. The town of Wildwood,
Florida (pop. 2,500) has treated its sewage in
a 500-acre cypress-gum swamp for the last
19 years. Wetlands also serve as natural
filters for removal of suspended sediments,
removing silt that otherwise would degrade
reservoirs, rivers and harbors.
• Wetlands are natural sponges. For
example, a five square-mile bog near
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is key to ground
water recharge in a 165 square-mile area.
Well water recharged in one year from each
wetland acre in Massachusetts has been
calculated to save $6,044 over the least
expensive alternate source.
• Because they hold water like sponges,
wetlands prolong and moderate runoff after
heavy precipitation or snow melt. Wetlands
in Minnesota and North Dakota reportedly
have significantly reduced flooding in the
cities of Grand Forks and Crookston. In
Wisconsin, flood levels are 80 percent lower
in watersheds with wetlands and lakes than
where these features do not occur. In the
Boston area, 8,422 acres of wetlands near
the Charles River prevent an estimated
$3,193,000 in flood damages each year.
• The examples above illustrate only a few
of many wetland values. As Chairman of the
Environmental Pollution Subcommittee, I
have heard one witness after another testify
to the importance of wetlands. I also have
gone into these fragile areas personally. I
have been awed by the huge ecological
wealth of the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana
and I have, time and time again, marveled at
the beauty of the salt marshes of my own
state. About 61,000 acres of wetlands are
left in Rhode Island, and I intend to see that
they remain and continue to enrich the
people whom I represent. I also intend to do
all that I can for wetlands throughout our
nation.
A Federal role in the acquisition of wetland
habitat has been recognized by Congress for
many years. The enactment of the Migratory
Bird Conservation Act in 1929 and the Migra-
tory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp
Act in 1934 established the foundation for
our present wetland acquisition program.
Other programs have also contributed.
The enactment of the Wetlands Loan Act
in 1961, as amended, has generated to date
some $145 million in loan money for
acquiring wetlands. Contributions from the
land and water conservation fund have
supplemented wetland acquisition efforts but
only to the extent that the area acquired is
for a congressionally authorized refuge or is
habitat for an endangered species. Although
the Federal Government obviously cannot
purchase all wetlands, we should, at a
minimum, accelerate the acquisition program
that was established in the 1950's.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act
enacted in 1972 is the major Federal
provision for the protection of wetlands,
including such areas as coastal and inland
marshes and estuaries, river-associated
water-saturated areas, inland lakes, potholes,
bogs, mudflats and bottomland hardwood
forests. It established a new role in
maintenance of wetlands—that of regulator
of wetland development.
Permit requirements under the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers' regulatory authority of
Section 404 extend to all waters of the
United States, including wetlands.
We must strengthen—not weaken—the
Section 404 program of the Clean Water
Act. We must pass new legislation, such as
S. 1329, to provide more money for
acquisition of wetlands. We also must take a
serious look at all federal subsidies that
destroy wetlands. These are my priorities; I
expect and look forward to assistance from
EPA and others in the Administration to see
that the priorities are carried out. D
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Key
Chesapeake
Bay
Conference
The comprehensive findings and recommen-
dations of a seven-year study to find ways of
regenerating Chesapeake Bay will be con-
sidered at a high-level conference scheduled
for December 8 and 9 at George Mason
University in Fairfax County, Virginia.
At this meeting, co-sponsored by EPA and
the Bay States, strategies and funding
programs to help restore and protect the
water quality of the Nation's largest estuary
will be discussed.
The extensive studies have documented
significant pollution problems in the Bay. The
program has produced 45 scientific reports
and five summary reports, including several
alternative options for improving the estuary.
Major ecological changes are occurring in
the bay, caused, at least in part, by
increased pollution, the reports concluded.
Three of the most critical problems are the
decline of submerged aquatic vegetation,
over-enrichment of the water by various
nutrients, and the increasing load of toxic
materials in the bay.
EPA Administrator William D. Ruckel-
shaus (center) joined top officials from
Mary/and, Virginia and Pennsylvania for
a recent tour of Chesapeake Bay and re-
ported that the group had agreed that the
bay is "a national treasure. " From left are
U. S. Senator John Warner of Virginia, Lt.
Gov. Will/am W. Scranton III of Pennsyl-
vania, Gov. Harry Hughes of Maryland,
Gov. Charles Robb of Virginia and Sena-
tors Charles Math/as and Paul Sarbanes,
both of Mary/and.
A technical report noted that submerged
Bay grasses are now at their lowest level in
recorded history. This has a considerable
impact, because these grasses play a major
role in maintaining the health of the estuary.
The Bay grasses are large primary producers
of the basic plant base of the food chain.
They provide habitat and nursery areas for
many commercially important fish. They
protect the shoreline from erosion. And they
provide a buffer against negative effects of
excessive nutrients, a summary technical
report noted.
OCTOBER 1983
-------
A major cause of this reduction in
submerged grasses is the decline in the
amount of sunlight reaching the plants. The
report attributes this to increasing levels of
sediment and nutrients, which have lowered
water clarity.
Recent international studies confirm that
reductions in submerged plants are "highly
correlated with changing water quality
conditions, such as decreasing water clarity"
resulting from increases in sewage, agricul-
tural runoff and other sediment discharges.
Other important factors contributing to the
loss of bay grasses are the increases in
nutrients discharged and in herbicides
washing into the estuary. The herbicides
alone would not cause the grass declines,
but in concert with other stresses, such as
the diminished sunlight, they could create
"intolerable conditions" for this plant life.
Nutrients, such as phosphorous and
nitrogen, have increased significantly over
the past 20 years, the Bay studies found.
This is believed to be the primary cause for
reduction of the Bay's dissolved oxygen
supplies in the channel area of the estuary's
main stem.
Since reduced oxygen levels can kill or
weaken fish and other organisms, there is
considerable concern that this pattern may
cause changes in fish migration and affect
commercially valuable oyster harvests.
Other findings involving nutrients include:
The Upper Bay, Mid Bay and several major
tributaries have nutrient levels that are either
severely o moderately elevated compared to
what they were historically.
Point sources, such as sewage treatment
plants, are the major source of phosphorus
for over-enriched areas.
Nonpoint sources, primarily fertilizers from
agricultural croplands, are a major source for
nutrient enrichment, particularly nitrogen.
The major rivers, such as the Susquehanna,
the Potomac and the James, are significant
contributors of nutrients, metals and toxic
compounds. The lower Bay has remained
relatively unaffected by nutrient enrichment
so far.
Major findings involving toxic pollution
included:
The highest concentrations of metals and
organics were found in Baltimore Harbor and
the Elizabeth River.
In the Bay's main stem, the highest metal
concentrations in sediment occur in the
northern section and particularly on the
western shore. At least haif of the
chromium, cadmium, copper and lead come
from human sources.
The Susquehanna contributes a greater
portion of metals than the Potomac or the
James, but the concentration levels are
approximately the same.
Map showing portions of Chesapeake
Bay that are moderately or heavily en-
riched by nutrients such as nitrogen and
phosphorous from various waste
sources. These nutrients provide
Toxic chemicals were found in concentra-
tions high enough to cause mortality in test
animals.
Despite its water quality problems, the Bay
produces the largest oyster harvest in the
United States, the largest blue crab harvest
in the world and more than half the total soft
shell crab catch in this country.
More than 2,000 species of plants and
animals are found in the Bay. They live in
communities, in marshes or on the bottom,
and depend on each other for food and
shelter. These communities respond to
changes in the environment through changes
in diversity and abundance.
fertilization which results in excessive
growth of algae. When the algae
decompose they rob the water of its life-
giving oxygen.
Some variations result from seasonal
changes, others from long-term fluctuations.
Still others are caused by human impact.
Tracing the cause of these biological
variations to natural or human influences was
one of the challenges posed to the scientists
who conducted the Bay studies.
More than $27 million was spent on ap-
proximately 45 studies in the past seven years.
Scientists from a number of universities,
institutions and levels of government took
part in the studies. D
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Conservancy
Drive
Advances
A $50 million drive to conserve endangered
wetland systems is being conducted by the
Nature Conservancy and the Richard King
Mellon Foundation.
The start-up funds for the project have
been provided in a $25 million grant from the
Richard King Mellon Foundation. It is the
largest grant of its kind ever made by a
private foundation for conservation purposes.
William D. Blair, Jr., president of the
Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit national
conservation organization, described the
project as "a major effort to preserve signifi-
cant examples of our threatened aquatic
ecosystem from the Atlantic coastal wetlands
to the watershed forests of Hawaii as a
demonstration of what can be accomplished
through joint private and public effort."
The project, Blair explained, has three
major objectives:
"The first is to safeguard outstanding
examples of a broad, representative array of
aquatic systems. By doing so we will insure
their continued productivity as wetlands as
well as their value as habitat for the diverse
communities of plants and animals they
shelter.
"The second major thrust will be one of
cooperative effort. Wherever possible, we
want to work in partnership—and develop
new formats for participation —with public
and private agencies to bring the resources
of both sectors to bear.
"Demonstration projects will include some
of the most critically endangered U.S.
wetlands. Watersheds, free-flowing rivers,
aquifer-recharge areas, marshes, swamps,
coastal and estuarine systems are examples
of the types of ecosystems that the National
Wetlands Conservation Project will seek to
protect.
"An element of the cooperative effort may
include working with others to help develop
legislation on tax and other nondevelopment
incentives as well as seeking innovative
funding sources for joint private-public
conservation programs. We also want to
explore with government agencies and other
conservation and research organizations new
ways to manage aquatic ecosystems.
"The third aspect of the project is public
awareness. The Conservancy hopes to pro-
mote greater understanding—among private-
sector organizations and governments at all
levels —of the need to conserve vital water-
related systems. The ultimate goal is
enhanced public support for the protection
of these systems," he said.
The Conservancy's first step, Blair said, is
the identification of critical wetland areas to
be included in the project. Once this has
been done, a plan for acquiring and manag-
ing the areas will be developed, and work
will be begun with other private organiza-
tions and governments on individual
conservation efforts.
The Project will target key sites across the
nation with a total estimated fair-market
value of at least $50 million. By encouraging
land gifts, matching gifts, and sales at below
market value, as well as by reselling non-
critical surrounding lands with conservation
restrictions, the Conservancy expects to
preserve $50 million worth of wetlands over
the next five years.
Under the terms of the grant, the Con-
servancy must also raise an additional $25
million in public and private funds, over and
above the amount of the Foundation's gift.
The original $25 million can subsequently be
used as a revolving land preservation fund.
The Project's initial focus will be in
Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, Florida,
where the Nature Conservancy has reached
an agreement with the Northwest Florida
Water Management District on funding the
acquisition of key wetlands along the lower
18 miles of the Escambia River.
"The Nature Conservancy has been
involved with protecting endangered ecosys
terns for the past 30 years," said Blair. "In
the process, we've learned that there are
innumerable ways in which governments,
businesses, and private organizations can
cooperate to protect critical land and water
areas. It doesn't have to be through
purchase alone, and no single body has to
bear the burden." D
OCTOBER 1983
-------
V
EPA JOURNAL
-------
The Marsh Maker
of St. Michaels
by Truman Temple
One of the salient points of the massive,
$27-million report issued by the Environ-
mental Protection Agency on the Chesapeake
Bay is that a severe decline has occurred in
many aquatic grasses. As the study put it,
"The bay grasses are of vital importance,
because of their value as high primary
producers, a food source for waterfowl, a
habitat and nursery area for many forage fish
and juvenile blue crabs, a control for
shoreline erosion, and a mechanism to buffer
negative impacts from excess nutrients."
Little noticed in the widespread publicity
surrounding release of the study was an
organization that for the past decade has
been creating marshes. Its name is Environ-
mental Concern, Inc. and since 1972 its
crews have ranged up and down the Atlantic
seaboard planting marsh grasses for comrnu-
ties, corporations, and private landowners.
The founder, president, and director of
this unusual nonprofit organization is Dr.
Edgar W. Garbisch, Jr., who gave up a
highly successful career as a professor of
chemistry to devote his life to the encourage-
ment and propagation of marshes. Garbisch,
50, originally taught and lectured at the
University of Minnesota on the arcane
subject of confirmational analysis which
deals with the arrangement of molecules in
space. He published dozens of articles in
technical journals and was sought after by
other universities. But Garbisch became
restless with academic life.
He began looking for something more
tangible. As a boy he had spent summer
vacations on Maryland's Eastern Shore near
Cambridge, and during a sabbatical in 1970,
he picked up John and Mildred Teal's
environmental classic, Life and Death of the
Salt Marsh.
"The book and some other writings I came
across suggested that wetlands were a
renewable resource, unlike coal or oil. I was
intrigued with the possibilities." He also felt
that the laws being enacted by various states
to halt further destruction of wetlands did
not go far enough, that something more
Canadian geese
positive could be done. He studied the
subject and made a momentous career
decision to chuck chemistry and switch to
marsh grass.
As a first step, he planted an experimental
patch of marsh grass on a beach in front of
his summer home in St. Michaels, a small
fishing village where James Michener a few
years later wrote the novel Chesapeake.
When the patch took root and flourished,
Garbisch decided to broaden his approach.
In 1971, he joined The Nature Conservancy
as director of the Center for Applied
Research in Environmental Science and
organized the creation of a salt marsh on
tidal sand flats at Hambleton Island a mile
south of St. Michaels. The site had several
advantages for research: It was uninhabited,
it was accessible, and it was subject to
erosion because of its exposed position
where three creeks met. In fact, there was
historic evidence of chronic erosion.
Maryland Geological Survey records showed
that wave and current action had been
washing away the shoreline at the site an
average of nearly two and a half feet
annually for ninety-five years.
Within a few months, Garbisch and his
assistants planted 60,000 seedlings on the
island. Since there was no precedent for the
experiment, the workers had to improvise,
They collected seeds from various marsh
plants around the Chesapeake and also from
the Outer Banks of North Carolina. To keep
from sinking into the tidal mud flats, they
wore plastic coated snowshoes. To plant
clumps of marsh grass under a foot of water,
they lay on their stomachs on floating rubber
mattresses, their arms immersed.
Encouraged by success in this project,
Garbisch in 1972 established Environmental
Concern on a ten-acre site overlooking San
Domingo Creek in St. Michaels. Offices
originally were located in a large antebellum
white mansion with decaying white pillars,
but this subsequently was torn down and
replaced with more functional quarters. The
organization also built greenhouses and a
small phytotron or growth chamber to
simulate the temperature and light conditions
found during different times of the year.
Outdoor cultivation beds for marsh grasses
also were added.
OCTOBER 1983
-------
Edgar Garbisch Jr, collecting marsh grass
seeds.
i
During the past decade Environmental
Concern has been involved in scores of
projects along the Atlantic seaboard. Section
404 of the federal Clean Water Act requires
an environmental review of proposed activi-
ties in most marsh areas, and in practice,
where wetlands are sacrificed, applicants
have developed mitigation plans to reduce
these losses. In many cases the plans may
involve revegetation or even the creation of
new wetland areas. Garbisch explains that
much of his organization's work has been in
response to this demand for mitigation
projects. When construction around Atlantic
City for its rash of new casinos began, for
example. Environmental Concern was called
in to plant new marsh grass.
Over the years Environmental Concern has
developed numerous and specialized types of
equipment for its unusual work. Crews make
use of a landing craft barge not unlike those
used in World War II, in order to reach mud
flats and dredged spoil in waterways not
accessible by land. Another vessel, modified
and adapted by Garbisch, is a sixteen-foot air
boat powered by an aircraft engine. It is
capable of carrying a ton of materials, and its
propeller wash distributes marsh plant seeds
that are mixed into the mud under water by
a large device pulled behind the boat. The
organization also uses conventional vehicles
such as bulldozers, dump trucks, and fiat-
beds, and much of the planting still must be
done laboriously by hand.
Nor is the learning process ever completed.
In one project to plant a five-acre site near
Boston's Logan Airport, Garbisch ruefully
recalls, crews ran into severe difficulties.
After removing landfill rubble from a drive-in
that had been laid on top of a dump, they
encountered a moonscape of broken chunks
of concrete. They broke numerous drilling
bits preparing the land for revegetation.
In an earlier project financed by the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources,
Environmental Concern planted two acres of
marsh grass on sand islands that had been
created in the upper part of the Chesapeake
by Tropical Storm Agnes at the mouth of the
Susquehanna River. But a few months later,
hungry Canada geese virtually destroyed the
marsh by digging for the tasty underground
rhizomes of the plants. The first remedy for
this was to lay down costly galvanized
fencing to protect the grass until it became
established. Later, Garbisch discovered a
strange fact: Geese would not touch a
planted marsh if he strung inexpensive nylon
lines on stakes, similar to a crab fisherman's
"trot line," at the water's edge.
Garbisch also discovered that recruiting
employees for his organization did not follow
conventional paths. "You don't need experi-
enced greenhouse workers here, because
what we do is not conventional. In fact, it's
contrary to everything a typical horticul-
turalist has been used to. We work with
plants that grow in saturated soil in
conditions that would kill most plants. So
everything has to be learned on the job."
His crews, which over the years have
included scientists and students pursuing
graduate work/study programs in ecology,
have established marshes from Maine to
South Carolina not only for communities,
industries, and individuals but also for the
U.S. Corps of Engineers. Environmental
Concern also is broadening its operations to
include freshwater plantings along Lake Erie,
in the Philadelphia area, and inland Maryland
for organizations and private landowners
seeking to establish protected wildlife habi-
tats. Although crews chiefly plant cordgrass —
formally known as Spartina a/ternif/ora — m
salt water to create marshes, a much larger
range of plants is used in fresh water. Arrow
10
EPA JOURNAL
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fa •Mi
arum, pickerel weed, and duck potato —the
latter once eaten by Indians in North America
— all attract ducks and muskrats and are
useful for food and shelter and land
stabilization.
As the cost of wastewater treatment has
increased in recent years, scientists and
engineers have been re-examining the role of
vegetation in cleansing waters where the
incidence of coliform bacteria is high.
Environmental Concern is now involved in a
three-year demonstration project with the
nearby city of Easton and the Maryland
Department of Environmental Resources
using aquatic plants for tertiary treatment of
sewage. Workers have been experimenting
with pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata],
duck potato (Sag/ttaria latifolia), and
American three-square (Scirpus americanus],
a sedge, to see how well the roots and
foliage of these plants can help remove
impurities from effluent.
Although the Corps of Engineers is often
thought of by environmentalists and conser-
vationists as an insensitive bureaucracy bent
on damming every stream in America regard-
less of consequences, in recent years it has
shown an awareness of the side-effects of its
actions. One of the engineers' problems is
dredge spoil. In 1981, for example, nearly 360
million cubic yards were dredged from U.S.
waterways and harbors at a cost of more
than one half billion dollars. Where do you
put it all? And what do these endless
mounds of raw, unsightly clay and mud do
to the environment? In seeking some of the
answers, the Corps has pursued extensive
research to find ways to recycle dredged
material, using it to renew eroded beaches,
create recreation areas, and establish new
islands for wildlife.
Environmental Concern is carrying out one
such project for the Corps, planting vegeta-
tion on fifty acres of dredged spoil west of
Hooper's Island in the Chesapeake Bay, a
few miles southwest of the Blackwater
National Wildlife Refuge. To provide a diver-
sity of habitat, crews are planting 40 percent
of the site and leaving the rest open for bird
nesting. Already least terns have been
observed nesting in the higher elevations.
One aspect of marsh grass that is attract-
ing more and more attention by private land-
owners is its ability to halt erosion, a
continuing problem in the Chesapeake. (One
study by a Johns Hopkins University geolo-
gist estimates that in the past three and a
Environmental Concern's greenhouses.
half centuries, about 145 square miles of
Maryland shoreline have been washed away.)
Quite apart from the attractiveness of a
natural vegetative border along a shore (as
opposed to man-made bulkheads or sterile,
grey stone strips of riprap) is its relatively low
cost in abating erosion. Contractors in the
Chesapeake charge anywhere from $40 to
$75 or more per foot for stone jetties. By
contrast, Environmental Concern's fee for
planting a shoreline runs around $8 to $12.
Garbisch noted that not every shore property
has the potential for vegetative treatment,
and he encourages landowners to consult
with the Soil Conservation Service for a
preliminary evaluation.
There is no routine day for Garbisch during
the summer, when he may be on the road
with his crews 70 percent of the time at
various planting projects. A husky six-footer
whose own mop of unruly hair sometimes
resembles Spartina alterniflora, he often is up
at 2 a.m. during the warm growing months,
moving by boat or truck to the next site. But
it is obvious that he has no regrets about
dedicating his life to restoration of the
marshes.
OCTOBER 1983
11
-------
'*** --
R
• - - - •• -•"»••
- -
•**
"They are so important indirectly to man,"
he says. "Not only do they provide a primary
food source for animals and a place for
nesting and resting, but they function as
natural filters in tidal areas. They're nature's
own water purifier. They remove nitrates and
phosphates, and also suspended sediments.
And along with all this, they also stabilize
shorelines."
A few miles south of Environmental
Concern's headquarters the Blackwater
National Wildlife Refuge has mounted some
handsome specimens of typical Eastern
Shore wildlife in its public museum. The
specimens include a Canada goose, a
muskrat, and a nutria, and Dr. Garbisch
looks at them with affection. "Without the
marshes, these animals couldn't exist." I i
Truman Temple is a press officer at EPA
headquarters. This article was printed
recently in the Natural Resources Defense
Council's Amicus Journal which has granted
permission for its use in EPA Journal.
Work under way to stimulate growth of
marsh grasses.
12
EPA JOURNAL
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Autumn at
Assateague
In the pre-dawn darkness while the great star
constellation of Orion, the hunter, still rides
the night sky, you can now often hear on
Assateague Island the gabbling of waterfowl
above the murmur of the lapping waves.
As the rising sun gradually burns away the
mist enshrouding Assateague, one of the
great barrier beaches of our Atlantic coast, a
skein of Canada geese emerges from a
distant cloud and slowly approaches the
slender ocean island which serves as a bird
sanctuary as well as a seashore recreation
area for millions of people.
The geese are part of the immense autumn
migration of birds who fly vast distances as
they travel between breeding and winter
territories. A major attraction for migrants
visiting Assateague are the fresh and salt
water wetlands that comprise part of this
island.
While these wetlands are enormously
productive protein factories, they are
deceptively quiet and their flat appearance
strikes many people as being monotonous.
Rarely appreciated are the salt marshes
with their often foul odors from dead plants
rotting in the slippery mud bottoms and their
clouds of mosquitoes and sizable populations
of biting green-headed horse flies.
The wild ponies on the island are some-
times so tormented by the green-headed flies
that they charge into the ocean surf to find
relief.
Yet scientists have discovered that a salt
marsh can be 12 times as productive as a
forest. These mixtures of mud, grasses and
water can and do provide a rich food supply
for birds and all other creatures in the coastal
environment.
The productivity of a salt marsh is stimu-
lated by the daily tidal flooding and periodic
sloshing of storm-whipped ocean waters over
the marsh areas. The surges of water pump
nutrients into the wetlands areas and
dissolve them so they are easily consumed
by creatures at the bottom of the food chain.
One of the charms of a salt marsh is the
sight of a snowy egret standing in a small
water channel, or "gut" as they are called
locally, and stirring the waters with one of its
yellow feet. After the snowy has poked its
"golden slipper" into the shallows and stirred
up the bottom it lunges down to eat the
small fish and crabs it has aroused.
On the floor of the marsh browsing on
algae are many small creatures, including the
snails known as periwinkles. Fiddler crabs
scuttle through the thick grasses, the male
waving one out-sized "fiddler" claw to
attract females and threaten other males.
Grasses, particularly the cordgrasses, play
a key role in the productivity of marshes. A
high marsh cordgrass, sometimes called salt-
meadow hay, was once harvested for
domestic animals and is still eaten by the
grazing wild ponies.
This saltmeadow hay has a unique ability
to survive burial by sands that cover it when
ocean waters wash over the wetlands.
Sooner or later it thrusts itself up above the
surface and continues spreading by sending
out underground runners. The success of
this grass helps to stabilize the island against
the constant assault of wind and waves.
One of the secrets of the survival of the
cordgrass is its ability to discharge excess
salt through special cells along the edges and
tips of blades. This excretion of salt some-
times paints these plants with a frost-like
edging which glitters in eariy morning
sunlight.
Fall is a transition period at Assateauge
when many birds are migrating to the south
and others are arriving for the winter.
Gone now are many of the shorebirds
such as the red knot, a robin-sized bird,
which left in July for Argentina. It will be
back in May to feed on the eggs laid by
horseshoe crabs in the sand after they pull
themselves from the ocean on a moonlit night.
When the red knots and many other shore-
birds disappear, riding the winds into the
ocean mists on their migration flight, it
signals the ending of another golden summer.
Soon the snow geese will be arriving at
Assateague and settling down in great flocks
in the sand dunes.
!f disturbed by visitors they explode into
flight. As many as 20,000 of these geese
spend at least part of the winter at
Assateague. However, with the approach of
colder weather in January and February
many of them will move even further south.
The periodic migrations of birds along
various inland flyways and up and down the
long coastlines of the world are reminders of
an observation by Carl Sandburg that in
human affairs also "the glory of life is that
we never get anywhere. We are always
going somewhere." —C.D.P. D
OCTOBER 1983
13
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Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
By Jay Benforado
It looks and smells like a greenhouse. Lush
water hyacinths, with their large purple
blossoms and stalks that end in nearly round
leaves, float on the surface of six covered
rectangular tanks. Catfish, mosquito fish,
crayfish, snails, duckweed, and other plants
and animals thrive in the environment.
This "aquaculture" project, funded by the
city of San Diego, is part of a pilot-test
advanced treatment facility that treats raw
sewage to standards higher than those used
for tap water in many cities. A total of $3.5
million in Federal, State and local funds is
being used to construct a larger system
which will be able to treat one million gallons
per day.
The San Diego project is one of many
innovative waste treatment approaches
harnessing natural and artificial wetland
processes that scientists have been studying
for years.
Lagoons filled with water hyacinths are
also used to clean domestic and chemical
wastewaters at NASA's laboratory at Bay St.
Louis, Miss., where the aquaculture treat-
ment technique was developed in 1975.
The wastewater treatment system at Walt
Disney World located near Orlando, Fla., is
one of the most innovative and sophisticated
natural systems in operation. The waste dis-
charge is first given a high degree of second-
ary treatment and is then treated by one of
four different methods. The major portion of
effluent is discharged to a cypress swamp,
another portion is used for spray irrigation,
and overflow from ponds is sent through
a cattail marsh. In addition, a water hyacinth
system has been constructed for
experimental use.
A large state-owned peatland located near
Houghton Lake, Mich., provides advanced
treatment for discharge from a one-million-
gallons-a-day municipal treatment plant at
about half the cost of a conventional facility.
This removal of nutrients is necessary to
protect recreation at the lake.
(Jay Benforado is an ecologist with the
Conservation Foundation, who is currently
working for EPA's Office of Research and
Development.)
In addition to providing waste treatment,
managed wetlands can also contribute many
other benefits. For example, at the Bitter
Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New
Mexico, wastewater discharged by the local
treatment plant supplies water for a marshy
area used by migrating shorebirds and water-
fowl. A 25-acre artificial wetland constructed
by the Mt. View Sanitary District in
Martinez, Calif., to receive effluent dis-
charged from a secondary treatment plant is
also managed to enhance wildlife habitat in
addition to removing nutrients.
Several factors account for the interest in
wetlands wastewater treatment: The need
for higher levels of effluent treatment prior to
discharge into waterways; rapidly escalating
costs of treatment plant construction and
operation; and emerging appreciation of the
esthetic, wildlife and other environmental
benefits associated with the preservation and
enhancement of wetlands.
How do wetlands "purify" wastewater?
Water that enters a wetland is dispersed over
a large area through intricate channelization
of flow. Physical entrapment of pollutants
occurs in the surface soils and organic litter.
In addition, many water quality changes
occur as a result of biological activity in a
wetiand; oxygen is both added to the water
as a result of photosynthesis and used
during respiration and decomposition;
decomposers such as bacteria on and in
wetland sediments break down organic
matter. In some cases, nutrients and other
material may be stored in the sediment,
woody vegetation, and peat, depending on
the type of wetlands, season of the year and
other environmental factors.
EPA has recently inventoried and plans to
study discharges or municipal effluents into
wetlands in two of its regions—Region 5
headquartered in Chicago and Region 4 with
headquarters in Atlanta. In the upper Great
Lakes States, 96 sites have been identified.
Seventy-five percent of these discharges to
wetlands are from municipal treatment
facilities and the other 25 percent from
commercial treatment facilities or other
dischargers. In eight southeastern states, 224
sites are recorded. A few dischargers have
operated for nearly 100 years.
The management of artificial and natural
wetlands to treat municipal wastewater has
been receiving attention across the country.
During an era of increasing energy prices and
inflation, wetlands appear to offer a promis-
ing alternative or supplement to the high
energy, equipment, and labor costs of
conventional advanced wastewater treat-
ment. Use of wetlands can also help
preserve open space and wildlife habitat,
increase recreation potential, and stabilize
streamflow. Potential problems include
inappropriate use of wetlands because of
lack of design criteria and ambiguous and
often conflicting regulations and standards.
The need to avoid adverse ecological
impacts was one reason EPA and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service cosponsored a
technical workshop last June on "Ecological
Considerations in Wetland Treatment of
Municipal Wastewater." A group of wetland
scientists met at the University of Massachu-
setts to hear and discuss 30 scientific papers.
Conclusions from the workshop included:
• Wetland systems, both artifically created
and naturally occurring, can provide measur-
able renovation of wastewater. However,
the ecological understanding and design
criteria to take best advantage of these
processes on a routine basis for the most
part do not currently exist.
• Natural wetlands have highly variable
characteristics making it difficult to generalize
about research results, especially in consider-
ing use of wetlands in different geographical
areas.
• Artificial or constructed wetlands appear to
offer the greatest promise for general
application in wastewater treatment because
of reliable treatment results, simpler manage-
ment techniques, and greater acceptability
by the public.
• There are opportunities and substantial
interest in creating and restoring wetlands in
combination with treatment of municipal
wastewater, stormwater and agricultural
return flow.
• Future implementation of full-scale wetland
treatment systems will depend on additional
14
EPA JOURNA1
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Harvesting of hyacinth plants grown in
Disneyworld treatment facility at Lake
Buena Vista, Fla.
pilot and demonstration studies to build
confidence in the design and operation of
these systems.
Using or creating wetlands to help treat
municipal sewage necessitates a shift from a
philosophy that wetlands must be totally
protected from any human intrusion.
Adopting an approach of wetlands manage-
ment does not conflict with the need for
wetland protection. In fact, competent
management of certain wetlands for particu-
lar human uses could foster a greater under-
standing and appreciation of the value of
these ecosystem, and thus bolster support
for protecting wetlands in general. The
concept of managing wetlands is not new.
Waterfowl hunters played a key role in the
wetland protection movement because they
worked to preserve rapidly disappearing
waterfowl habitats. Now many of the
National Wildlife Refuges wetlands are
managed to increase wildlife populations.
Control of water levels and establishment of
specific types of plants for cover and food
used by ducks and other wildlife are impor-
tant wetland management tools.
Overall, the conservation community
appears to be guardedly optimistic about the
future of wetland treatment practices. If this
technology is carefully developed and appro-
priately applied, the benefits could outweigh
the disadvantages. Many environmentalists
view using wetlands for wastewater treat-
ment with mixed emotions. Since they have
battled so long for wetland preservation,
they welcome any help they can get in
"selling" the need for wetlands, but they
fear that advanced waste treatment use
could destroy the very values they seek to
preserve. Potential ecological problems must
be identified early in the development of this
technology so that adequate controls are
used to protect our valuable wetlands. D
Water hyacinths cover surface of large
pond in San Juan, Tex., where they are
used to help improve water quality.
OCTOBER 1983
li,
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EPA Management Strategies and Goals
An Interview with EPA Deputy
Administrator Alvin L. Aim
Q.
Why were you interested in return-
ing to EPA as Deputy Administrator?
*» • First, I believe strongly in the mission
Congress has given to EPA. A clean environ-
ment can no longer be considered a luxury,
but rather a necessary part of an industrial-
ized society. Since I last served at the
Environmental Protection Agency, the nature
of many of the issues has changed. Today,
we more clearly recognize the human health
threats imposed by environmental pollution.
While we have made substantial progress in
reducing gross pollution levels, we have not
made equal progress in reducing hazardous
and toxic materials nor in dealing with some
of the more intractable problems, such as
nonpoint sources of water pollution. I would
like to contribute to achieving the goals and
objectives established by the Congress, and
believe that my experience will enable me to
do that.
Second, I feel strongly about EPA as an
institution. EPA has had a reputation for
being one of the best managed agencies in
Government and one with an extremely
talented and professional staff. The turmoil
over the last two years has obviously
adversely affected morale and productivity,
but not the quality of EPA's staff. I would
hope to contribute to improving morale and
productivity within the Agency so we could
reach the standards of excellence that EPA
had attained in the past.
Third, I am extremely enthusiastic about
working for the current Administrator,
William D. Ruckelshaus. I have had the
opportunity of working for many great public
servants in the past and Bill Ruckelshaus is
certainly in that tradition. He is a person of
great integrity, vision, and ability. I feel
honored that he has chosen me for this posi-
tion, and am excited about the possibility of
working with him as Deputy Administrator.
Q
• Is this a good time to be at EPA?
/» • This is a particularly exciting time to
be associated with EPA—in a sense a period
of "bureaucratic camelot." Bill Ruckelshaus
has pulled together a team of extremely
talented and professional people to provide
leadership to the agency. Coupled with what
I consider the best career staff in Govern-
ment, we have a management team that can
achieve the objectives Congress and the
American people expect us to achieve.
Q.
What approaches will you be
taking in your new post?
• » • I think there are a few management
principles that will be important in running
the agency. The most important principle is
treating the career staff as our most impor-
tant resource. In approaching this it is
important for the appointed officials to trust
the career people that have made this agency
work effectively over the years. This trust
extends to trusting the judgments and
motives of the staff and giving them respon-
sibility for performance and holding them
accountable for success. Only through team-
work and open dialogue between appointed
and career staff can this agency prosper.
A second basic theme is an open decision-
making process. Good managers understand
that success is heavily dependent on
organizations having shared values and
achieving consensus on management direc-
tions. We are using many techniques for
gaining consensus and understanding on
agency goals, such as decision-making in
open meetings, use of task forces and
involvement of headquarters and regional
people in reaching decisions. The creation of
a career Management Council to advise
Howard Messner and me on management
issues opens another approach.
Third, we need to delegate more operating
responsibility from the 12th floor to the
program offices, from headquarters to
regions and from EPA to the states. The
more we can place decision-making at the
level of operational responsibility, the more
effective our programs will be. While dele-
gating day-to-day operational responsibility,
top management needs to focus better on
the long term goals and operations of the
agency. These goals must be developed
through an open process of involving people
and encouraging wide participation by
agency staff.
Q,
How do you view your role as
Deputy Administrator of EPA?
A,
First, the Deputy Administrator will
act as the internal manager of the Agency's
operations. Essentially, he will be responsible
for overseeing the Agency's varied work
products—from developing standards and
regulations to making inspections, issuing
permits, preparing Congressional reports,
and most important, achieving compliance
with environmental statutes.
The workload of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency is immense. Over 250 major
standards and regulations are in progress,
8,000 RCRA permits must be issued
and more than 500 Superfund sites are
scheduled for removal or remedial actions.
Staying on top of this vast volume of work is
a major challenge.
Second, the Deputy Administrator will act
in the Administrator's absence and will make
some decisions in cases where the Adminis-
trator has recused himself.
Third, the Deputy Administrator will over-
see the policy development process so that
the Administrator can make decisions on the
basis of good information. The policy devel-
opment process must not only inform Agency
decision-making, but should also lay out for
the Congress and the public the choices that
are available and their implications for society.
The Deputy Administrator will also be
responsible for overseeing task force efforts
to address a wide variety of critical issues,
such as developing a dioxin strategy, a
groundwater operational plan, a compliance
strategy, and improved operations through a
16
EPA JOURNAL
-------
Alvin L Aim being sworn in as EPA Dep-
uty Administrator by Administrator Wil-
liam D. Ruckelshaus. Holding the bible is
Eloise Agee, Special Assistant to the Dep-
uty Administrator.
better delineation of federal and state roles in
achieving environmental improvement. The
development of a policymaking process that
brings together better science, economics,
and technical work—while encouraging the
public and various interest groups to partici-
pate actively—is a critical role for the Deputy
Administrator.
In a sense, I view the job of the Deputy
Administrator as similar to that of the chief
operating officer of a corporation. The chief
executive officer, who has a role similar to
the Administrator, is responsible for policy
decisions and overall direction of the
corporation. The chief operating officer is
responsible for implementing the decisions
and direction on a day-to-day basis.
^J- * How do you plan to manage the
Agency?
A
Third, I will use visits to the regional
offices to follow up progress and assure
achievement of management commitments.
Periodic meetings of regional administrators
represents another tool for reviewing regional
accomplishments.
Fourth, I plan to have weekly meetings
with the assistant administrators to review
their progress and discuss problems of
particular concern.
Finally, we will use the agency's perform-
ance standards to encourage achievement of
programmatic objectives. Performance
ratings and bonuses will be tied specifically
to actual accomplishments.
Basically, I will be interested in ensuring
that we are actually accomplishing our statu-
tory goals —namely cleaning up and protect-
ing our environment. We are not necessarily
interested in whether people are working
hard. We are more interested in whether
they are working smarter in accomplishing
something.
Q.
There are five major tools I plan to
use: The first tool is the management
accountability system, which provides a
mechanism for establishing Agency goals
and following up on achievements.
Second, we are establishing a tracking
system to check aggressively on the progress
being made on the major work products,
including all major standards and regulations.
Do you think EPA can make signifi-
cant gains during the next year and a
half?
*» • I may be an optimist, but I really
believe we can accomplish a lot. Most of the
issues at EPA are well known. What we have
to do now is to engage the EPA staff in pre-
paring analysis and options and then make
decisions. Bill Ruckelshaus and I are more
than willing to make decisions. In addition to
moving ahead on policy and management
decisions, we can make a number of improve-
ments in the way the Agency operates. We
can improve the timeliness and quality of our
work products and strengthen our manage
ment procedures. Most important, we can
institutionalize a way of dealing with each
other that allows for creativity and job satis
faction. By institutionalizing good manage-
ment practices that place prime focus on the
Agency's employees, we can achieve the
Agency's substantive goals. Achieving our
substantive goal of cleaning up the nation's
environment is partly dependent on creating
a first-rate management environment for
EPA's employees. D
OCTOBER 1983
17
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Who's Who in the Regions
Region 10 (Seattle!
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon,
Washington
206-442-1203
..,*
Regional Administrator
Ernesta B. Barnes
Region 9 (San Francisco)
Arizona, California,
Nevada, Hawaii
415-974-8023
Acting Regional Administrator
John Wise
Region 8 (Denver)
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming,
Montana, North Dakota,
South Dakota
303-837-5927
Regional Administrator
John G. Welles
/
Region 7 (Kansas City)
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,
Nebraska
816-374-5894
Regional Administrator
Morris Kay
Region 6 (Dallas)
Arkansas, Louisiana,
Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico
214-767-2630
Regional Administrator
Dick Whittington
'
EPA JOURNAL
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* Dallas
\
\
Region 1 (Boston)
Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, Vermont
617-223-7223
Regional Administrator
Michael R. Deland
Region 2 (New York City)
New Jersey, New York,
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
212-264-2515
Regional Administrator
Jacqueline E. Schafer
Region 5 (Chicago)
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota
312-353-2072
Regional Administrator
Valdes Adamkus
\
Region 4 (Atlanta)
Alabama, Georgia, Florida,
Mississippi, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Kentucky
404-881-3004
Regional Administrator
Charles R. Jeter
Region 3 (Philadelphia)
Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, District
of Columbia
215-597-9370
Regional Administrator
Thomas P. Eichler
OCTOBER 1983
19
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More Key
Appointments
Barnes
Cooper
President Ronald Reagan has announced
his intention to appoint two more EPA
Assistant Administrators, a new General
Counsel, and a new Inspector General.
They are: A. James Barnes to serve as
General Counsel.
Josephine S. Cooper to be Assistant
Administrator for External Affairs.
Jack Ravan to serve as Assistant Admi-
nistrator for Water Programs.
John C. Martin to be EPA Inspector
General.
Meanwhile, the Senate has already
confirmed the earlier nominations of
Alvin L. Aim as Deputy Administrator,
Howard M. Messner as Assistant Admi-
nistrator for Administration and Lee Tho-
mas as Assistant Administrator for Solid
Waste and Emergency Response.
Barnes had been serving as
General Counsel at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture since 1981. Earlier in his
career he had been in private law prac-
tice and had served as an Asssistant to
EPA Administrator William D. Ruckel-
shaus in the Administrator's first term at
EPA in 1970-73 and also when Ruckel-
shaus was Deputy Attorney General at
the Justice Department in 1973.
Cooper will be filling a new post con-
solidating the work of the previously in-
dependent Public Affairs, Congressional
Liaison, Intergovernmental Liaison and
Federal Activities offices. Since 1981 she
had been serving on the professional
staff of Senator Howard Baker of Tennes-
see and on the professional staff of the
U. S. Senate Committee on the Environ-
ment and Public Works.
While serving as an American Political
Science Association Congressional Fel-
low, Cooper was legislative assistant to
Senator Baker and Congressman Dick
Cheney of Wyoming. Cooper had also
been employed previously at EPA as a
special assistant to the Assistant Admin-
istrator for Research and Development in
Washington and as an environmental
protection specialist and program analyst
at EPA facilities in Research Triangle
Park, N. C.
Ravan, who will succeed Frederic A.
Eidsness after confirmation by the Sen-
ate, had previously served as EPA Re-
gional Administrator for the Agency's Re-
gional Office in Atlanta in 1971-77.
A graduate of the U. S. Military
Academy, Ravan had served since 1982
as Director of Project Development, Clean
Water Group, Wheelabrator-Frye in Atlan-
ta. Earlier he had served in several State
and business posts in Georgia.
Martin has been serving as Assistant
Inspector General at the Department of
Housing and Urban Development since
1981. Previously, he was Supervisory Spe-
cial Agent for the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation in 1976-1981; Special Agent,
FBI, in 1971-1976; Assistant to the City
Manager, City of Rockville, Maryland in
1968-1971; and Deputy City Manager, City
of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1967-
1968.
Ravan
20
EPA JOURNAL
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