(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 ------- 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... ------- |