(continued)
Our Strategic Plan
Goal 4 - Invest in capacity building with other
federal, tribal, state, and local governments
to implement community-based
environmental protection and provide
support to their key environmental efforts.
• Provide technical and policy assistance to tribes,
communities, agencies, and other EPA programs
(GEO, NRMU, ARU, Pesticides)
• Assist local communities to understand and meet
environmental requirements (GEO, CIU)
• Provide funding to tribes, states, and local
governments for wetland conservation and nonpoint
source management (ARU, NRMU)
• Work with states and tribes to develop and
implement nonpoint source management programs
(NRMU)
• Work with federal land managers and others to
implement improved ecosystem management
approaches emphasizing salmon recovery (NRMU,
GEO, Immediate Office)
• Work with federal agencies to improve their
environmental review capacity to minimize impacts
on local communities (GEO, Immediate Office)
Goal 5 - Build the Region's ability to provide
timely, high quality outreach and public
involvement.
• Educate the public about EPA's work through fact
sheets, brochures, and meetings (CIU)
• Facilitate feedback from the public and ensure that
it is considered in EPA's decisions (CIU)
• Provide information and assistance to the public
and other agencies on the requirements and benefits
of EPA's programs (All)
• Assess the effectiveness of public involvement,
including how it affects EPA decisions (CIU)
Goal 6 - Make effective use of enforcement tools
to reduce human health and environmental
risks from wetland destruction, poor
sediment disposal practices, and illegal
pesticide use.
• Ensure compliance with section 404, which
regulates the discharge of dredged and fill material
into waters of the U.S., including wetlands; take
enforcement actions when necessary to rectify
(remove the fill and restore the area) unpermitted
fills or discharges of dredged materials (ARU)
• Inspect imported pesticides to ensure they are
registered and meet EPA requirements (Pesticides)
• Inspect home and garden dealers to ensure that
cancelled pesticides are not offered for sale
(Pesticides)
• Assess states' worker protection programs to ensure
that farm workers are adequately protected
(Pesticides)
• Assess the impact of EPA enforcement actions and
grant-funded work on human health risk (Pesticides)
Goal 7 - Create a work environment that
maximizes staff satisfaction and
productivity.
• Provide staff with tools they need to work
effectively (All)
• Support peer feedback, supervisory feedback, and
mentoring systems for staff and supervisors (All)
• Align work with individual staff strengths and
capacity (All)
• Seek challenging work that contributes to personal
and organizational growth (All)
• Ensure training for our staff so they are
knowledgeable and competent proponents of
environmental and human health protection, and
the work of ECO (All)
• Ensure that community-based staff have the
resources and technology to communicate and
coordinate effectively with the Seattle office (All)
Our Vision: To protect and restore
the environment for naturally
functioning ecosystems and healthy
human communities.
The Office of Ecosystems and Communities
leads Region 10 in implementing a strategy
to identify, develop, and support ecosystem,
geographic and community-based projects
to protect high quality ecosystems and to
reduce environmental and human health
impacts from agriculture, forestry, energy,
transportation, and development.
October 2001
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Our Strategic Plan
Partnerships with states and tribes, and
other EPA offices, ensure that the Region
has a true geographic problem solving
focus. We have oversight responsibility
for state and tribal nonpoint source
management and pesticide programs, as
well as shared responsibilities with the
Corps and other partners for managing the
wetlands and sediment programs. When
necessary, we can use our Clean Water
Act and pesticide enforcement authorities
to ensure compliance.
We manage an annual grants and contracts
budget of $65 million. Community
involvement is an essential element of the
Office, and staff located in the four state
capitals and nine other communities ensure
that we know how our work affects people
in the "real world."
A key focus area for all of our programs
is protecting and restoring habitat for
salmon and bull trout. Five of the seven
goals of our strategic plan directly support
salmon recovery. Much of our grant
money is directed at this issue, including
money for wetlands and nonpoint source
management, regional geographic
initiatives, forest planning, and state
revolving loan funds. Our staff work in
these areas, along with our decisions on
sediment management, pesticide use, and
our review of environmental impact
statements, plays a major role in salmon
recovery.
Who's Who in the Office of Ecosystems and
Communities
Director
Elbert Moore, 206-553-4181
Associate Director
Roger Mochnick, 206-553-1216
Forest and Rangeland Manager
Dave Powers, 503-326-5874
Columbia River TMDL Project
Rick Parkin, 206-553-8574
Columbia River Coordinator
Mary Lou Soscia, 503-326-5873
Office Manager
Jean Iriarte, 206-553-1644
Budget Analyst
Hyesuk Riggall, 206-553-6334
Unit Managers
Aquatic Resources Unit (ARU)
Sally Marquis, 206-553-0717
Community Involvement Unit
KathyVeit, 206-553-1352
Geographic Unit (GEO)
Judith Lee, 206-553-6911
Natural Resources Management Unit (NRMU)
Gary Voerman, 206-553-8513
Pesticides Unit
Marie Jennings, 206-553-1173
Goal 1 - Lead EPA Region 10 in collaborating
internally and building partnerships with
tribes, the public, and other agencies to solve
environmental problems.
• Build coalitions for large scale ecosystem protection
and restoration projects (ARU, GEO, NRMU)
• Provide funding, education, technical assistance,
and training for research, conservation planning
and restoration projects (ARU)
• Work pro-actively with federal, state, and local
agencies in the environmental review and decision
process (GEO, ARU)
• Collaborate with state and federal agencies in
designating and managing environmentally sound
aquatic sites for dredged material disposal (ARU)
• Coordinate beneficial uses of dredged material for
capping and other sediment projects to control
pollutants or enhance natural recovery (ARU)
• Support research projects to better understand the
effects of human activities on the health of our
aquatic resources and to improve protection of
wetlands and other aquatic resources (ARU)
• Work with states and tribes to develop groundwater
management plans that address persistent pesticides
(Pesticides)
• Work with commodity and farm groups to ensure
that EPA decisions on the availability of pesticides
address both public and agricultural concerns
(Pesticides)
Community-based environmental protection
is EPA's strategy to solve environmental
problems in concert with local communities
and to build lasting community support for
environmental programs. Our work ranges
from identifying opportunities for
collaboration, and providing funding for
technical assistance or environmental
stewardship, to conducting scientific studies
and investigations. EPA staff working on
these issues are located in nine communities,
in addition to staff located in Seattle and the
state offices.
Goal 2 - Focus resources and efforts in critical
geographic areas where EPA participation
will greatly enhance local environmental
protection efforts.
• Plan and implement regional geographic initiatives
(GEO)
• Assist in implementing comprehensive conservation
and management plans in each of our national
estuaries (NRMU, ARU)
• Develop more integrated approaches (both internally
and externally) for targeting funding and staff
resources toward geographic areas (NRMU, ARU)
• Place EPA staff in watersheds that are critical to
salmon recovery (GEO)
• Evaluate the states' use of the watershed protection
approach in Region 10 (NRMU)
Goal 3 - Address environmental issues through
cross program, integrated environmental
protection.
• Work with other EPA offices to implement the
Aquatic Ecosystem Strategy to protect and restore
salmon habitat, and to address environmental issues
related to agriculture and forestry (NRMU,
Immediate Office)
• Focus restoration efforts on entire watersheds,
including restoration of degraded streams, wetlands
and riparian habitats for salmon protection (ARU,
NRMU, GEO)
• Conduct annual "listening tours" in strategic
geographic areas (CIU)
• Lead multimedia environmental reviews of major
federal actions (GEO)
• Develop total maximum daily loads for temperature
and dissolved gas for the main stem of the Columbia
River, in cooperation with tribes, states, and
stakeholders (Immediate Office)
• Comment on high priority section 404 draft permits
and environmental impact statements, represent
the Agency on the NEPA/404 merger agreements,
and assist Superfund in its section 404
implementation (ARU)
continued...
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