Spring 2001

 

PNW-CESU NEWS

 

Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

University of Washington

College of Forest Resources

 

In This Issue

        PNW-CESU established       

    Agency/Partner list

      Planning workshop, April 30

      National convention, June 19-20

      Web sites 

      Grants in progress

      Native Alaska contacts

      Coordinator position advertised

 

The Cooperative and Joint Venture Agreement establishing the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit has been completed and signed. The University of Washington is pleased to serve as the host institution for this new addition to the growing network of CESUs that will help faciliate management and stewardship of the nation’s public natural and cultural resources.  PNW-CESU joins other newly established second-round CESUs—South/Florida Caribbean, Great Plains, and Desert Southwest—in taking a partnership approach to complex boundary-transcending resources issues.  We hope to benefit from the experience of the first-round CESUs—Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains, Southern Appalachian Mountains, and North Atlantic Coast—and to add the combined education, research, and technical assistance challenges and strengths of our diverse regional partners and agencies to this ecosystem approach to problem solving.

                        Gordon Bradley, PNW-CESU co-lead

 

 

Pacific Northwest Region Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit:  Agencies and Partners

 

AGENCIES

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Land Management                        

National Park Service

U.S.G.S.-Biological Resources Division
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of Agriculture

U.S. Forest Service

 

PARTNERS

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Heritage College

Oregon State University

Tuskegee University

University of Alaska-Anchorage

University of Alaska-Southeast

University of British Columbia

University of Idaho

University of Oregon

University of Vermont

University of Washington (Host)

Washington State University

Western Washington University

 

In fullfillment of the agreement establishing the Pacific Northwest Region CESU, a strategic planning workshop is planned to develop and adopt a role and mission statement for the unit and to begin the task of  developing a multi-year strategic plan. The professionally facilitated workshop will be held on the University of Washington campus on April 30, 2001. A good turnout is expected, with partner and agency representatives attending from throughout the region.  In addition, representatives from potential member agencies and partners, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Alaska Native Science Commission, the Department of Defense, and the Bureau of Reclamation, will attend.  In preparation for the workshop, participants have developed a summary list of the strengths and challenges in the areas of education, research, and technical assistance that each participant brings to the unit.  Follow-up steps from the workshop will be mailed to participants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Report

Darryll Johnson, PNW-CESU Technical Representative for the U.S.G.S.-Biological Resources Division, traveled to Alaska in March to meet with representatives from organizations, agencies, and universities about the CESU.  On March 15th, he met with Patricia Longley Cochran, Executive Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission, University of Alaska-Anchorage, to discuss the possibility of the Commission becoming a partner in the PNW-CESU.  Ms. Cochran has presented the matter to the Alaska Native Science Commission Board and has asked Dr. Oscar Kawagley to attend the April 30th strategic planning workshop on behalf of the Commission to explore the possibility of joining the PNW-CESU. In addition,  Johnson met with faculty interested in the PNW-CESU at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and University of Alaska-Fairbanks.  He also talked to personnel from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service about the organization of the CESU and the April 30th strategic planning workshop.

 

Current Research Projects

Six NPS research projects at four universities are currently being funded through the PNW-CESU agreement:

•  Developing Models of Visitor Use and Associated Impacts for the Paradise Developed Area and Adjacent Wilderness Zones in Mount Rainier National Park.  The primary purpose of this research is to develop specified numeric models describing the relationship between visitor use and specific indicators of social and biological resource quality in the Paradise area. (UW)

•  Implement Human-Bear Management Plan.  This study seeks to obtain definitive documentation of grizzly bears in the North Cascades Ecosystem through derivation of DNA from scat, using trained dogs to locate the samples. (UW)

•  McCarthy Bear Project in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve.  This research will attempt to gain an understanding of bear/human conflict in the study area that either now exists or may develop as a consequence of increased visitor use, home-site development, and facility development. (UI)

•  Juniper Encroachment in Lava Beds National Monument.  This research will determine the historic range and density of juniper within the Lava Beds ecosystem in order to guide fire management and historic landscape initiatives. (OSU)

•  Exit Glacier Alternative Transportation Feasibiltiy Study.  This study will examine the economic feasibility of alternative transportation systems for the Exit Glacier Areas of Kenai Fjords National Park.  (UAA)

•            Identification of Sites and Properties Associated with Desegregation and Civil Rights.  The primary purpose of this project is to comprehensively survey the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington for sites or properties that are associated with the themes of desegregation and civil rights and that are important to the African-American, Native American, Chinese-American, Japanese-American, and Mexican-American communities. (UW)

 

PNW-CESU Coordinator Position

The National Park Service Coordinator vacancy announcement for the PNW-CESU was placed in USA Jobs on March 19; it closed on April 19. The position was advertised as interdisciplinary and listed under the following: research coordinator (natural resources), ecologist, and social scientist.  The NPS PNW-CESU coordinator will be housed in the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington.

 

Don’t forget!  The 2001 Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit National Network Meeting will be held June 19-20, 2001, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. This meeting is sponsored by the CESU Coordinating Council and Network. This is an important and exciting time in the development of the CESU Network. Eight operational CESUs are working on a wide variety of research, technical assistance, and education projects. Two new CESUs will become operational this fiscal year. To capture what we have learned and to prepare for a dynamic future, the 2001 CESU National Network Meeting objectives include:

• sharing CESU successes and challenges since the 1999 founding of the CESU Network

• strengthening links between university, federal, and other partners

• forecasting federal agencies’ priorities and needs

• linking local and regional federal partners with the CESU Coordinating Council and senior agency representatives, and strategic planning for the CESU Network

Participants from universities, federal agencies, and other partners associated with current and planned CESUs are invited to attend.  The program includes plenary presentations, panel discussions, and focused working sessions.  Plenary sessions will include formal remarks by Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton (invited). There is no registration fee for the meeting. Participants are responsible for all travel, hotel, and per diem expenses. A registration form, which can be printed and returned via fax to the number provided on the form has been emailed to all network participants.

 

CESU Web Sites! Check out the newly established PNW-CESU Web site at www.cfr.washington.edu/research.cesu/

Other Web resources and addresses for other CESU units can be found at CESU Network Web Site:  www.cesu.org/cesu