Transcript The FWS-USGS Relationship – One Mission Two Bureaus Paul R. Schmidt

The FWS-USGS Relationship
Two Bureaus – One Mission
Paul R. Schmidt
Assistant Director
Migratory Bird Program
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC)
Why SHC and Why Now?
Precursors:
•Landscape ecology is maturing as a discipline
•Advances in spatial data analysis technology
Stimuli:
•Greater recognition of the magnitude of our mandate
relative to our resources (it takes a lot of habitat
to sustain populations)
•Greater emphasis on accountability
oEfficiency in how we use our own funds
oEffectiveness in influencing the actions of others
A few effective examples illustrated the potential of SHC
and are leading to expanded capacity
HAPETs
More Efficient use of Service resources
+Effective outreach to other agencies
+The ability to affect policy
+Greater partnership effectiveness
Greater Migratory Bird Population
Effects
RWBJV
CVJV
PLJV
LMVJV
GCJV
SHC:
•Bridges the research-management gulf
•Is a form of Adaptive Resource Management at
broad spatial scales
SHC:
•Bridges the research-management gulf
•Is a form of Adaptive Resource Management at
broad spatial scales
SHC:
•Bridges the research-management gulf
•Is a form of Adaptive Resource Management at
broad spatial scales
SHC
Most SHC Concepts:
Are not exclusive to
habitat conservation
Are open-ended and
are enable the
integration of
wildlife, water
quality, flood
abatement, and other
environmental
functions
SHC concepts were developed explicitly to guide the
conservation of fish and wildlife populations by
resource management agencies
Management of habitat and human take are simply
means of managing populations, but we can’t do it
alone:
“As the lead government agency responsible for
the conservation of Federal trust species, the
Service must no longer view its role as solely a
manager of habitats and populations, but as a
steward and purveyor of the biological
foundation for fish and wildlife conservation.”
The Service and USGS
An Example of Functional Mutualism
The USFWS is the principle federal agency
responsible conserving, protecting and enhancing fish,
wildlife and plants for the continuing benefit of the
American people.
The Biological Resource Division (BRD)
works with others to provide the scientific
understanding and technologies needed to support
the sound management and conservation of our
Nation's biological resources.
The Service and USGS
An Example of Functional Mutualism
Needs greater science capacity to fully
implement the SHC framework
Needs management agencies like the Service
to make their science capacity relevant
A Stronger Service-USGS Partnership
Founded on SHC
Partnership:
A relationship between entities who, in a spirit of
cooperation, agree to carry on an enterprise, each
contributing to it by combining resources, knowledge or
activities and sharing its outcomes in pursuit of a
common set of goals and objectives.
vs
Client:
One who purchases a product or service from a
business or merchant.
Provider:
Someone who provides a service or commodity,
usually for a fee.
A Stronger Service-USGS Partnership
Founded on SHC
There are many “science providers” available to the
Service to meet our SHC needs:
Universities
Consulting firms
etc.
USGS is poised to be a partner by virtue of its mission
of providing scientific and technical assistance to
Federal resource management agencies.
A Stronger Service-USGS Partnership
Service Expectations
What the Service wants:
A long-term working relationship between Service and
USGS staff dedicated to SHC implementation at
ecoregional scales; National and regional partnerships
founded on a common set of biological objectives and
thus information needs.
What the Service doesn’t want:
1. Short-term provider-client relationships dictated by the
needs of the moment and available funding;
2. USGS to assume all of the science and technical
functions necessary to implement SHC.
Science is a body of knowledge and a
method of discovery
Both USGS and the Service are science agencies
Both will take a hand in
biological planning,
conservation design,
monitoring and research
in a true Service-USGS
partnership.
A Stronger Service-USGS Partnership
Founded on SHC
A long-term working relationship between Service
and USGS staff dedicated to SHC implementation at
ecoregional scales; National and regional
partnerships founded on a common set of biological
objectives and thus information needs.
This is the essence of a national Service-USGS MOU
agreed to by the USGS Executive Leadership Team in
Joint Session in Reston, August, 2006 and in
Anchorage, July, 2007.
What changes may you and your staff
experience?
1. You and your staff will be doing more work with the
Service;
2. Institutional barriers that tend to promote a providerclient relationship will begin to break down in favor of
Service-USGS partnerships;
3. USGS scientists will be asked to participate with
ecoregionally-based SHC teams on a dedicated basis;
4. The Service will ask for more access to USGS staff
and resources at the same time we are building
greater Service capacity for SHC – “what’s yours is
mine and what’s mine is yours”;
5. Greater emphasis may be placed on cooperation with
the Service in the USGS RGE process.