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Coordination Team Planning Effort Takes ShapeThe R.I. Bays, Rivers and Watersheds Coordination Team's work towards the creation of a strategic systems-level plan (SLP) to guide the work of key state agencies is moving ahead steadily. This effort includes the implementation of two new fees that will generate funds for the group's activities, particularly ambient environ-mental monitoring and assessments of Rhode Island's “water cluster.” The SLP, required by the Coordination Team's establishing statute, is the first step in an interagency strategic planning process designed to align, integrate, and streamline the programs and actions of the member agencies, who are most directly responsible for the state's fresh, coastal, and marine waters and watersheds: the Coastal Resources Management Council, Department of Environmental Management, Division of Statewide Planning, Economic Development Corporation, Narragansett Bay Commission, Rivers Council, and Water Resources Board. The group is complemented by an Economic Monitoring Collaborative, Environmental Monitoring Collaborative, Public Advisory Committee, and Science Advisory Committee, which consist of a wide range of experts in diverse and relevant fields, members of nongovernmental organizations and business groups, and members of the general public. To spearhead SLP development, the Coordination Team has established an ad hoc planning work group consist-ing of officials from the seven member agencies, the chairs of the monitoring collaboratives and advisory commit-tees, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program director, and other state and federal officials. The SLP development and implementation will pursue a systems-management approach, termed “ecosystem-based management,” to fulfill the mission of the Coordination Team and goals of the SLP initiative. The Coordination Team is scheduled to assess and approve for public review a SLP draft by March 2008. Public review and comment proceeds through April and May, with a final draft of the first version to be approved by the Coordination Team in late June 2008. The group will then turn to SLP implementation via development of an annual work plan for FY2010 that will have to be completed by early fall 2008 to synchronize with agency FY2010 budget development processes. Recommendations for FY2009 will also be developed. In addition to its work on the SLP, the team's Economic Monitoring Collaborative has been very active, creating an economic scorecard for 2007, which employs economic, activity, capacity, and conflict indicators. It also examined which industries are most reliant on Rhode Island's water resources, looking at the “water cluster” in terms of three broad categories: the water-dependent sector (e.g., marinas), the water-related sector (e.g., tourism), and the watershed sector (e.g., bio-manufacturing). Current economic monitoring work includes a study of peak season coastal tourism and value chain analyses of commercial fishing and seafood processing, recreational boating, competitive sailboat racing, boat building, and marine trades. One of the goals of the collaborative will be to make a direct link between economic monitoring and environmental monitoring, which could have immediate impacts on economic development initiatives in upper Narragansett Bay (the “Metro Bay” region) and in Newport. The Environmental Monitoring Collaborative reconvened in October 2007 for a strategic review of its initial priorities, to do a check on their current status, and verify that they still warranted the collaborative's primary focus. The priority issues for focus and funding remained: • Fixed-site monitoring in Narragansett Bay The Coordination Team expects to continue contributing funding to both the collaboratives' efforts using $25,000 allocated from Rhode Island's Oil Spill Prevention, Administration and Response Fund, and upwards of $600,000 to be generated annually from two new fees established by the General Assembly under Budget Article 30 of the FY2008 state budget (a septage disposal fee of $1 per 100 gallons and an annual fee on transatlantic submarine cables that utilize Rhode Island submerged lands). These funds help leverage other monies from federal and local sources to support the overall monitoring effort. The Public Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Coordination Team also met at the end of 2007 for an update on the strategic plan and presentations by Kip Bergstrom, chair of the Economic Monitoring Collaborative, and Sue Kiernan, cochair of the Environmental Monitoring Collaborative. The PAC will play an important role in the review of the strategic plan, both in its current draft stage, and in the formal 60-day public input period. Final input would come after the public comments are incorporated and prior to Coordination Team approval. “The Coordination Team represents an ambitious effort to enhance the quality of Rhode Island's waters and watersheds through the integration of environ-mental and economic priorities via a systems-management approach,” said Ames Colt, Coordination Team chair. “We will continue to work to develop the data and knowledge that ecosystem-based management requires; we will be underscoring in the SLP the importance of the state improving technical assistance and training for local governments; and we will, over time, enhance the cost-effectiveness and strategic capacities of marine, coastal, and water resource governance and economic development.” “The Coordination Team and its partners offer plenty of compelling vision, but we have a long way to go,” Colt added. “Nevertheless, it was particularly encouraging to have the General Assembly endorse and support our efforts through passage of Budget Article 30 last summer, de-spite an enormously challenging state budget situation that we all must cope with and help to resolve.” —Chip Young
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