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Proceedings

MID-ATLANTIC FEDERAL PARTNERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

SEPTEMBER 19, 2000

Welcome. The meeting was opened by Marie Rust, NE Regional Director, National Park Service with a welcome and a reminder of some of the problems in the harbor and a reminder of our common concerns in Jamaica Bay. "The New Park Service belongs to all of the people". She also discussed briefly the harbor and Gateway boat tour of the day before. Marc Koenings (General Superintendent, Gateway), Diane Dayson (Superintendent, Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island and Acting Director National Parks of New York Harbor) and Steve Laise (representing Joe Avery, Superintendent, Manhattan Sites) added their welcomes.

Meeting details, administration, final approval of the agenda by Cheryl Amrani (FWS)

Business Procedures for MAFPE In response to preliminary agenda proposals, several expressed the thought that MAFPE needs to establish some regular procedures. Issues of meeting schedules, agenda setting, priorities, communication methods (a web site?) mailing lists, the conduct of the meetings were raised. John Hnedak proposed the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to make a proposal to be presented at the next Principals meeting.

Action: An ad hoc committee was established consisting of Mamie Parker, Terri White, John Hnedak, Adolph Everett, Dave Russ, Geoff Walsh and John Wright. A draft proposal is due 30 days prior to the next principals meeting.

Coordination and Outreach. Further clarification and detail was requested on the purpose of this section. The issue is whether MAFPE representation is sufficiently comprehensive to cover the mid-Atlantic geographically and programmatically (with respect to federal agencies). Should other levels of government, non-governmental organizations, and tribes should be partners?

In discussion it was agreed that MAFPE, as a federal entity, should limit membership accordingly. Rather than specific tribes, invite the participation of BIA (specifically the American Indian Environmental Office, AIEO). Consider presentations at future meetings by outside groups with complementary missions. Exploration of how the programs of American Forests and the projects of MAFPE might be mutually enhancing. The discussion of communication was carried forward from the business procedures section as more appropriate for the concept of outreach.

Action: A second ad hoc committee was established to compile a list of appropriate partners and a catalogue of other organizations with which MAFPE might have fruitful communication. This committee will also draft a communications and outreach strategy. Committee members are Cyndy Belz, John Hnedak, John Forren, Marc Koenings, and Jeff Underwood. Report due in draft 30 days prior to the next meeting.

John Wolflin, FWS, proposed a relationship with American Forests and offered to invite its director, Marion Fisher, to make a presentation at the next Principals' meeting. The proposed topic is American Forests GIS efforts that could support the SPRAWL initiative. The members agreed to invitation, which is now an item on the proposed agenda.

At this juncture, John Wright made a presentation proposing the consolidation of Coastal America and MAFPE. Included in the presentation was a discussion of the D.O.D. Innovative Readiness Training program, the Corporate America Wetlands Restoration Partnership, and the Coastal America Learning Centers, and how they might contribute to MAFPE efforts. He noted that the proposed learning center development by the NPS at Fort Wadsworth should include a contact with Coastal America Coastal Learning Center program at Coney Island. Sam Tosi followed up on this and Marie Rust, NPS, thought it was an excellent idea. Handouts regarding the IRT, and CAWRP, and the MARIT strategy to address coastal wetland restoration via the National Estuary Program were provided to the MAFPE principals. It was generally agreed that Coastal America has significant overlap with MAFPE. It was proposed that MAFPE take on an advisory role to the Coastal America working group. The principals determined this was to be an inversion of proper roles but agreed that some coordination is called for.

Action: Resolution of the issue was added to the charge of the ad hoc committee for business procedures. A strategy for interface with Coastal America is to be proposed. A proposal to be considered is that Coastal America might be an agenda item on all subsequent meetings. An alternative would be to schedule MAFPE and Coastal America meeting sequentially. Report due in draft 30 days prior to the next meeting.

Harbor Habitat committee report. Bob Nyman, EPA, presented conclusions of initial reviews of projects that could be adopted by MAFPE. A number of the proposed projects have significant execution problems. The result of the review was a sense of process failure leading to the list of projects. This sense elicited considerable discussion regarding how projects were prioritized to get the "greatest bang for the buck", and

strategic planning efforts to aid this process.

Action: establish a process for project selection based on the MOU and experience with pilot projects and to provide guidance for project selection. A due date of Oct 15 was selected to complete this action. The Sub-Committee for Habitat Restoration will discuss the next steps in their upcoming meeting and report to the Executive Committee in January.

Sprawl Committee Report. Stan Laskowski, EPA, and John Wolflin, FWS. John discussed components of a tool box developed in identifying criteria for directing land use and presented several web sites that provide information useful for assessing criteria. They include

Bay Scapes, www.fws.gov/r5cbfo/bayscapes

School Yard Habitat www.fws.gov/r5cbfo/schoolyd.htm.

and Partners for Wildlife www.fws.gov/r5cbfo/Partners.htm.

In the toolkit presentation, it was agreed that the sample letter should give more prominence to MAFPE, and that multiple agency signatures should be considered. The MOU should be appended to the letter.

Action: Comments by all MAFPE participants on the letter will be sent to Rich Kampf. Proposed due date was September 29, 2000.

Sprawl committee activities have centered on establishing a pilot project with Baltimore County. Discussions have begun and are progressing toward an agreement. The need for a separate MOU was discussed, and was determined to be unnecessary because of the contents of the existing MAFPE MOU.

The discussion turned to the need for a method of establishing priorities among projects and a plan for the work of the sprawl committee, including desired outcomes. Part of this plan will be a feedback loop, to learn from ongoing projects in order to better plan for the future.

Action: As a first step toward a plan, the committee was charged with producing a package of materials that will include progress to date, the MOU, selection criteria, selected pilot projects will be assembled and distributed to all MAFPE participants. Goals will be derived from the MAFPE MOA. The committee will also move forward with county work plans. Stan Laskowski will be responsible for ensuring that this is done. Due October 15, 2000.

Update and Opportunities for Collaboration in the Delaware Basin Integrated Ecological Resources Study. Pete Murdoch, USGS, and Rich Birdsey, USDAFS, reviewed the progress being made by USGS, NPS, and USFS with the development of a prototype environmental monitoring strategy that will link hydrological and forestry information across the landscape of the upper Delaware River Basin. The initiative follows the proposed CENR framework for environmental monitoring that links existing intensive ecological research and monitoring stations, regional surveys, remote sensing programs, and fixed-site monitoring networks in order to track complex environmental issues at a range of spatial and temporal scales. If successful, the initiative will serve as a template for a national long-term collaborative strategy for understanding complex environmental issues and monitoring environmental health. The initiative will revolve around four issue-based studies and two integrating activities that in combination will create a long-term, multi-component, and multi-scale ecosystem monitoring strategy for the forested landscapes of the Delaware River Basin.

Baseline monitoring programs of the participating agencies will be enhanced and their linkages strengthened to facilitate the Delaware initiative. The USFS is enhancing its FIA and FHM programs according to a new national mandate to provide continuous (annual) monitoring of forest conditions. The USGS has a well-established research program in the Navasink River Basin, which will be the primary intensive monitoring and research area. The Delaware River study unit of the National Water Quality Assessment Program is currently engaged in both intensive and survey monitoring of surface- and ground-waters in the basin. District Offices of the USGS maintain discharge and water-quality monitoring stations throughout the region in cooperation with local governments. The National Trends Network (NTN) deposition monitoring program, overseen by USGS, has stations within and adjacent to the study area. The NPS has research plots in Delaware Water Gap NRA for tracking the effects of invasive species on forest health and maintains a baseline water-quality monitoring program. The Integrated Monitoring Initiative will therefore test strategies for linking long-term monitoring programs that are National in scope, and pave the way for better integrated monitoring Nationwide.

Other agencies were encouraged to participate in this initiative and provide Pete with names of contacts to attend future meetings regarding the further development of the program.

Useful website for GIS information: www.fs.fed.us/ne/global/research/drb/drb.html

Sprawl in the New York/New Jersey Area. West Chester Sprawl: Jeff Gratz, EPA, presented a discussion on the value of the Croton Water shed to the City of New York. He asked for planning contacts with the New York District. Sam Tosi indicated that USGS has an authority for environmental infrastructure in N.Y. City watershed and might be able to help. A request was made for the agencies to identify a point of contact, supporting this effort, to collaborate on strengthening implementation of the Westchester Initiative.

Barnegat Bay, Ocean County, NJ. Adolph Everett, EPA, discussed a CCMP for Barnegat Bay. This effort focused on the preservation of open space and is one of the actions of the CCMP. This action identified how the federal agencies would collaborate and develop an MOA to support implementation activities. Adolph requested that the agencies identify a point of contact to work in a sub-committee.

Action: Bob Dieterich, Barnegat Bay Estuary Program manager for EPA Region 2, will coordinate with the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Park Service and the Department of Defense regarding their potential involvement in this initiative.

Science Committee Report. Bob Shedlock presented highlights on the upcoming Federal Inter-Agency Science Workshop on Sprawl planned at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia December 5-7, 2000. Ten agencies are interested in participating. One of the goals of this conference will be to develop strategies to build a science plan on urban sprawl in the Mid-Atlantic area as a template for the Eastern United States. John Wright will provide a POC from the Coastal America Scientific Committee as a possible source assistance for developing this workshop. Bob pointed out that the project has funding needs and entered a plea for financial assistance from other agencies.

Next Principals' Meeting. Three dates are proposed, January 11, 18 and 25, 2001. The Corps of Engineers is the tentative host, the location to be in the Baltimore area.

Update: The Corps is the confirmed host. The meeting site is the National Aquarium in Baltimore. John Wright is coordinating the meeting. Rather than wait for a message from him, you should send him a message regarding your availability on all three dates as soon as possible.