Important News about FY 2000 USGS Budget Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 18:19:17 -0500 To: "USGS Employees" From: "Director's Office" Subject: Important News about FY 2000 USGS Budget SUPERVISORS, MANAGERS, AND TEAM LEADERS: PLEASE ENSURE THAT EMPLOYEES WITHOUT ACCESS TO EMAIL RECEIVE A COPY OF THIS MESSAGE. To: All USGS Employees From: Chip Groat, Director Subject: Important News about FY 2000 USGS Budget The President has proposed a budget of $838.5 million for the USGS in Fiscal Year 2000, a $40.6 million net increase over FY 1999 enacted funding. The budget reflects a commitment to integrating USGS' scientific disciplines geology, biology, hydrology, and geography into a more unified approach to research and information collection and analysis. The proposed budget will fund research to provide crucial scientific information for natural resource managers at Interior and other federal, state, and local government agencies, and for disaster management decisionmakers in government and private sector organizations. The FY 2000 budget request includes a $15 million increase for a new activity called DOI Science Support to fund new research for Interior land management agencies. An additional $15 million of ongoing work is also being included in this activity. This increase brings the total USGS funding directed toward Interior science needs to well over $150 million. As the science agency for the Interior Department, we are working directly with managers in the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and other agencies to identify their highest priority research needs. Other proposed increases include $8 million to improve the integration and coordination of disaster information between the many sources and users of this information through a disaster information network. The USGS provided crucial scientific data for the nation's response to three devastating hurricanes this past year - Bonnie, Georges, and Mitch. We continue to provide similar information for coastal erosion affecting communities in the Pacific Northwest and flooding throughout the country. Our experiences have demonstrated time and again the urgent need for data and information, and to get early information to agencies responding to natural disasters in the U.S. and abroad. The President has also requested a $5.5 million increase to accelerate the modernization of natural hazard (earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes) monitoring sensors and networks, and expand the use of telemetry for real-time warning capabilities. The right scientific information, made available in a timely way, can help relief organizations and local governments save lives and reduce the costs of natural disasters. A $10 million increase is included that will expand the National Spatial Data Infrastructure through the Community-Federal Information Partnership. This activity supports the President's Livable Communities Initiative and includes a $6.7 million community grant component to help communities develop the ability to create and use geospatial data and technologies to make informed land use decisions. We're excited by the partnership aspect of this initiative and see it as an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with many organizations, such as the State Geological Surveys, county and local governments, and non- governmental organizations. Amphibian research and monitoring is proposed for a $5.6 million increase. Understanding complex ecological problems, like that of severely declining amphibian populations across our country, requires long-term data. This new funding will enable an aggressive monitoring and research program to determine the scope and cause of the amphibian population decline. Amphibians are considered good indicators of ecosystem health due to their sensitivity to many kinds of environmental stress, and the USGS has the unique ability to bring an integrated science approach to addressing this problem and to provide a framework within which other agencies and interested parties can cooperate to increase the utility of everyone's efforts. Within our FY 2000 budget, which is positive overall for USGS, some of our programs will see small reductions. Although this may mean a shift in priorities for some employees, none of the reductions are significant enough to impact our overall staffing levels. At the same time, in FY 2000 we are taking the first step in a complex process of restructuring our budget to develop common business practices that make us a more partner-friendly organization. Essentially, the change involves making integrated science activities (those involving certain DOI science projects and ecosystems studies) a separate line item or "activity" within our budget. Doing so allows us to address these important programs with the full strength of our scientific capabilities and minimizes the administrative challenges posed by the various business practices across our divisions. It will enable the USGS to respond quickly to both changing national policy directions and the needs of our interdivisional customers. The restructuring also reflects a consolidation of appropriated facilities costs into an expanded Facilities line item. All bureau-level administrative costs, such as the Director's Office, Office of Program Support, and a portion of Division headquarters staffing, have been placed into a new category called Science Support. With this new structure, our budget will be a truer reflection of our organizational costs and what we do for our customers future decisions regarding our programs will be based fairly on what we do and how we spend our funds. These changes will also help keep assessment rates down, truly relevant to the incremental costs of reimbursable programs, and provide the opportunity to standardize practices across the bureau. The changes also bring the USGS budget structure into line with other DOI bureaus. We have made a great effort to address every circumstance affected by the restructuring. There are parts of the USGS affected more than others and a few challenges to which solutions are needed. I have asked the division chiefs to look for creative solutions and facilitate the implementation of the new budget structure. I am convinced that this change is essential to the ability of the USGS to compete effectively for the limited science dollars available in today's Federal budget, while continuing to build our integrated science capability. As your Director, I am fully committed to ensuring that the USGS is prepared to continue as the Nation's premier natural science organization. I firmly believe that our FY 2000 budget provides us with an opportunity to remain a strong force in the future of the earth and biological sciences.