Greenversations

Congratulations. Here are ten suggestions from a former Deputy:

1. Be your agency’s Chief Operating Officer. No one else has the scope of authority to do this job.
2. Listen. Within the first 15 days interview 10 to 20 people who know the agency well. Ask them:

• What are the best things about the agency?
• What are the top few things that should be changed?
• Who are the most respected people in the agency? (Make sure you interview these people.)
• If you were in my shoes, what would you work on?
• What are the major obstacles to successfully finishing the work you suggest and how can they be overcome?

3. Plan. Take what you learned from the interviews to your boss. With your boss, write down what you will accomplish in your first year. Include items 4 through 8 below. Include specific mid-term goals. This is your personal performance plan. Your inbox will relentlessly try and knock you off your plan. Don’t let it.
4. Learn. Have key agency performance measures reported to you at least every quarter (shoot for every week). The measures must reflect the President’s priorities. After two reporting cycles you will know more about the agency than anyone else.
5. Get help. Establish a team that can help you interpret the performance data. They should look for trends, anomalies, and best practices.
6. Manage. Regularly meet with the head of every major office (e.g., the Under Secretaries) to review the office’s performance. Use performance data to improve operations, formulate budgets and make policy decisions. Measures for reporting don’t mean much. Measures for managing are vital.
7. Motivate. Link awards, promotions, pay increases, bonuses, and other recognition to the agency’s performance. Personally recognize people who exceed expectations.
8. Show the world. Publicly release performance data at least every quarter (shoot for every week). Accountability is your best friend.
9. Be honest. In Washington DC, reputation is the coin of the realm.
10. Have a blast.

One last thing, if a former Deputy calls, always take the call.

About the author: Caleb Shaffer joined EPA’s San Francisco office in 2002. For the past three years he worked with southern California tribes on solid waste issues. He is currently manager of the Waste Management Division’s Information Management Office.

For the last three years I have been pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. While the mantras of business school such as maximizing profit and creating efficient systems are directly applicable to the business world, they are also valuable lessons to my current job at EPA. Organizing a group of diverse individuals and rallying around a common cause to achieve tangible outcomes are results of successfully applying classroom theories to real life situations.

The Torres Martinez Reservation in southern California has historically been a magnet for illegal dumping. With rapid development in the area, large migrant worker population, and commercial agricultural operations, the open land of the reservation was seen as an easy place to dump illegally. The problem became so bad that operators on the reservation started collecting money to accept waste on their property, creating environmental and human health hazards from ill-managed and exposed dumps, which often caught on fire. The business school concept of “maximize profit and minimize cost” needed to change to “maximize human health and minimize harm to the environment”.

In April 2006, the Tribe, EPA and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs formed a collaborative consisting of over 25 federal, state and local agencies. This was the first time these organizations, which have very different missions, came together to recognize a common problem and develop solutions. As an organizer of the collaborative, business school principles I had learned in the classroom, such as group dynamics and organizational development, offered valuable tools to manage a large group of diverse stakeholders. After the first meeting and a very eye-opening tour of the existing dumps on the reservation, members of the collaborative went out of their way to offer the resources needed to solve this unique problem. To date, 24 dumpsites have been shut down and cleaned up, dump fires have been virtually eliminated, and a rigorous outreach campaign and enforcement program has been created. Most importantly, community members have seen a real change in health and an improvement for their environment.

The collaborative has created a model of how federal, state and local agencies can come together to combat a decade long problem. Creating a cohesive group, building trust, and challenging that group to perform are textbook models creating real human health improvements and environmental results. It’s a tangible example of business school lessons playing out in real world situations.

About the authors: Bob Dyer and Ella Barnes, Office of International Affairs, have managed work on the reduction of toxic and hazardous wastes in the Arctic under both the multilateral Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP) and the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) Program for over 10 years. Bob Dyer chaired the ACAP Working Group under the Arctic Council from 2004 to 2008, and Ella Barnes is the U.S. Representative to the ACAP Working Group.

If you stood with me at the northernmost point of the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia, on the shores of the frigid Arctic Ocean, what would we see? A star-filled sky, the Aurora Borealis, whales, walruses, perhaps a lost polar bear… But there is something that the eye cannot see: high concentrations of contaminants, from radioactive materials to pesticides.

A Chukotka family has set up residence in an abandoned hazardous waste tank.

The Arctic is fragile, and is an early warning indicator of the state of the larger planet. Almost all Russian rivers flow to the north, where contaminants accumulate in seaweed, fish, birds, and mammals. Through the subsistence food chain these contaminants quickly find their way into the bodies of indigenous people where they stay for years. Native Americans in the Arctic, who neither produced nor used these chemicals, are at risk.

Since 2004, EPA’s Bob Dyer has chaired and I have represented the U.S. at the Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), which includes the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Working together with our partners, EPA is helping to greatly reduce environmental contamination in the Arctic.

ACAP, under EPA leadership, organized the effort which to date has resulted in inventory, analysis and safe storeage over 4,000 metric tons of obsolete and prohibited pesticides in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Russia. Prior to this project, the contaminants were released directly into those northward-flowing Russian rivers and transported to the Arctic.

Thanks to the pesticides management program we initiated, Russian regions are now contributing their funds and manpower in development of creative solutions to pesticides storage. For example, they have converted an abandoned missile silo in Altai Krai, Southern Siberia, into an effective storage facility for legacy pesticides.

A Pokrovka former missile hangar was dismantled under the US Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. In 2007 it became an interim storage site for obsolete and prohibited pesticides under the ACAP Project.

Bob and I are particularly proud that, during the recent EPA chairmanship of ACAP, the program has created and implements a model environmental justice empowerment program in Russia called the Indigenous Peoples Community Action Initiative. This sustainable and replicable project has already resulted in the removal and safe storage of over a metric ton of PCBs and persistent organic pollutant pesticides from remote indigenous villages in Alaska and northern Russia.

A community elder in Chukotka, Russian Far East, told us that he lived with drums containing spent oils, lubricants, and transformer liquids all his life and they are a part of his landscape. EPA is helping to change that–this summer, through the ACAP Program, over 2000 drums were removed from two Arctic indigenous villages in Chukotka on the Bering Sea across from Alaska.

Residents of Lorino and Lavrentia, Chukotka Autonomous District removing hazardous waste drums.

About the author: Karen Reshkin manages the Web site in EPA’s Chicago office. She’s been there since 1991, and can still remember life before the Internet.

A few weeks ago, I declared that I’d try to diminish my ignorance about some of the things EPA does. Turns out it’s hard to write about things you don’t know! I hope you’ll bear with me if some of this seems a bit elementary. I want to understand better how enforcement works at EPA, so I’ll start with laws and regulations.

EPA is charged with implementing federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Statutes like these are passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. They may get amended, as happened with the Clean Water Act in 1972, 1977, 1981…

Those laws look quite, um, legal to me. Why would you need regulations on top of that? Turns out the statutes usually don’t contain the details you’d need to actually enforce them (e.g. allowable concentrations of particular substances in water). EPA is a regulatory agency, which means Congress has authorized it to write regulations that explain how to implement a statute. There’s a whole process for doing that, and it generally includes an opportunity for the public to comment on a proposed rule (regulation).

The Web provides an excellent way for people to get involved in rulemaking. You can view the proposed rule online and provide comments online as well. (More traditional methods like paper mail still work, too.) The collection of documents related to a rulemaking is called a docket and it includes public comments, background reports, Federal Register notices, and other supporting documents. Dockets are accessible to the public and Regulations.gov serves as EPA’s electronic public docket and online comment system.

This didn’t really bring us to enforcement yet, but I’m getting there.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”– Benjamin Franklin

Last fall, Benjamin Franklin spent a few minutes with EPA and State environmental leaders at a meeting in Philadelphia (No Really!) Ben related how Philadelphia addressed some of the environmental challenges it confronted during his day and noted a number of improvements (see the video to the left, or read the transcript below). At EPA, we also want to know how we’re doing in addressing some of today’s challenges.

The EPAStat Quarterly Report (EQR) (formerly known as the Quarterly Management Report) provides part of the answer. Every few months – quarterly, not surprisingly – EPA produces a report characterizing how we’re progressing on selected performance measures. The report includes both environmental measures and internal management benchmarks. For example, measures about how we’re working with our partners and stakeholders to improve air and water quality and other measures about how we’re running the agency.

OK…so how are we doing? This quarter’s report indicates two important things. First, from a national perspective we’re on track to meet our goals for the fiscal year. Second, a few results really stood out – in a good way and a few in a not-so-good way. Overall, while performance in many areas is roughly the same as it was last year, during this past quarter EPA and its partners have made a number of impressive gains. We have improved air quality, improved water quality and increased land restoration. In particular, the SmartWay program continues to bring in new partners to reduce transportation-related emissions, which results in measurable air quality and/or greenhouse gas improvements and cost savings (Box 30). On the not-so-good front, there are also a few areas where performance is lagging, but we anticipate significant gains during the fourth quarter, which will enable us to meet our targets in areas such as increasing the number of homes along the Mexico border with improved drinking water services (Box 28) and the completion of assessments of high and moderate production chemicals (Box 42).

Also note that this quarter’s report — in keeping with Ben’s advice about continual growth and progress — reflects a couple changes. First, the report has a new name, EPAStat Quarterly Report. The new title more accurately places this report in the ‘context’ of EPA’s overall performance management activities and EPAStat program (our internal performance management program). Second, we’ve improved the web navigation of the report. The new approach, we think, helps readers get to the data they want more quickly.

So if we could talk with Ben …we’d tell him that we continue to grow and progress. We hope you agree. In any case, we’re trying out some new ideas and we hope that you’ll let us know your ideas for ways to keep improving. Please use the “feedback” link on the webpage and let us know what you think!

See you next quarter,

EPAStat Quarterly Report Team

Transcript of Ben Franklin’s remarks shown in the video above
Ben Franklin: But the thing was, we had some real problems in the early days. Pollution was our biggest problem here in Philadelphia. The wells and the privy pits were too close together. You didn’t dare drink the water in Philadelphia. The river was so badly polluted that when we wanted to cut ice we had to cut it from the school hill and bring it across town. Anything beyond 6th or 7th Street was out in the country.

We had a terrible problem with the air. Our city was heated with wood fires for the most part. During the winter you could barely breathe, but even during the warmer months, we were still cooking with those fires. It was a dusty, dirty city, because the streets were not paved. You couldn’t breathe. Most of the people in Philadelphia slept sitting up because the air quality was so bad that you couldn’t breathe if you were lying down.

Now my friends, I tell you that little story because, my friends, you are the drivers. You need to know the best way to do things, the safest places, the cleanest places, because you’re in charge of it. If we are not creative, if we are not innovative, if we are not working towards solutions, we are going to be left behind as all of the new things come on and as they happen. And your agency is responsible for an awful lot. You basically are responsible for the quality of life in this nation.

Last week, Lina Younes blogged about the Beyond Translation Forum series. Today is the National Forum in Washington, DC. Various people will send brief updates during the day, and we’ll update this post though the day.

Lina Younes, Multilingual Communications Task Force Chair, 11:40 am: It’s been only two hours and we’re already producing results. Have been able to make some good contacts and identify potential partnerships. Many local community and state representatives are very interested in continuing the dialogue in favor of environmental protection. Go team!

Marcus Peacock, Deputy Administrator, 12:05 pm: It’s so satisfying seeing an initiative grow from an idea two years ago to the flourishing partnerships we have today. And it is just going to keep rolling along. I expect our existing collaborations will get stronger and we’ll continue to meet new partners. We’ve gone from acorn to sapling with a mighty oak in our future.

Bill Briggs, Director of Public Outreach, 12:30 pm: Sometimes its hard to tell how an event is going when you and your team are on the line for its success. From all the information and input I am gathering, the forum participants are glad this is happening and are helping to achieve the forum’s goals by networking and engaging close collaboration. Someone mentioned to me that they want to have a forum in almost every region. I will be fine for successfully finishing the first national forum before taking on bigger projects.

Bill Briggs, Director of Public Outreach, 1:40 pm: We have begun the real work of the forum: the breakout sessions. Here is where the experts have a dialogue with the stakeholders on how to “go green”, get a contract with EPA and expand the number of college students choosing careers in environmental science and related fields.

About the author: Dan Heister has been an on-scene coordinator with Superfund in Region 10 since 2000 and joined EPA 13 years before that. Dan’s responses have ranged from fifty gallon oil spills on a small creek to spending seven weeks in a FEMA trailer helping with the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

During large scale events (Katrina, the California fires, large oil releases) EPA, implements the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS was developed in the 1970’s by California wildfire agencies in response to some catastrophic fires near Los Angeles. ICS is a command and control structure that is stood up quickly to manage people and resources in a timely and efficient manner.

Command and General Staff officers wear vests that designate their role within the organization. Large patches on the back of the vest have black letters set on a fluorescent background (INCIDENT COMMANDER, OPERATIONS SECTION CHIEF, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, etc.). The vests facilitate identification within the Command Post so officers can be located, especially in an emergency.

I have donned vests during numerous incidents and have had various titles. I have noticed a curious phenomenon about the vests. A magical thing occurs; middle aged bald guy (me) is transformed and I am called “Sir” or “Mister”, despite my protests. People treat you as though your IQ is 20 to 25 points higher, and they believe you have answers you may not have. It’s humbling to go home where my wife is in charge and my teenage daughter sees me as the fat, stupid person with money. At least I can sleep in my own bed.

In October 2007, Portland was one of three venues for TopOff 4, a week long, national “dirty bomb” exercise. A year earlier my manager called to ask if I would like to be the Incident Commander (IC) in Portland. I said “no”. He took that to mean “yes”.

So there I was the IC, wearing the “heaviest” vest for the entire week. After four long days in the Command Post I arrived the last day at a pay parking lot downtown. My IC vest on, deep in thought I walked toward the Command Post, the sun rising in the east. A late model Mercedes Benz entered the parking lot and drove slowly toward me and stopped. Was this the Mayor? A VIP? The driver’s window came down and the woman inside handed me the keys. “I’m running late, park it for me.” I felt like Rodney Dangerfield. I guess I had it coming.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

Lea la versión en español a continuación de esta entrada en inglés.
Some links exit EPA or have Spanish content.

In my nightly Web surfing, I came across an article on the “Top 25 Things Vanishing From America.” As expected, the loss of some “old technologies” like the VCR, dial-up internet access, phone landlines, analog TV, made the list. However, what struck me enough to write about it in today’s blog was the mention of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs and honey bees.
Maryland has been my home for nearly 28 years. The blue crab, is practically a state icon. I must note that my family and I enjoy eating crabs in many ways. In this era of going “local” in our culinary habits, you would think that living in the Free State, eating crabs is the right thing to do. Yet this Internet article has made me reflect and question—should we keep crabs off the menu for a while?

Overfishing, water pollution and excessive nutrients are threatening the blue crab and aquatic wildlife that live in and around the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. This important watershed spans six states—Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. EPA and its state partners work closely together to accelerate progress towards a healthy Bay. Through the Chesapeake Bay Program, EPA is trying to make a difference in restoring the blue crab habitat by working to improve water quality and submerged aquatic vegetation. In the meantime, the role of setting harvest regulations for the blue crab lies primarily on the states along the Bay.

Whether you’re concerned about the Chesapeake Bay or your local watershed, there are simple steps you can take in your home, school, community or the workplace to protect these precious aquatic resources. For example, conserve water! Don’t pour used motor oil down the drain! Used oil from a single oil change can ruin a million gallons of fresh water—A year’s supply for 50 people. Use greenscaping techniques in your garden. Bottom line—learn and get involved.

¿Maryland sin cangrejos?

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

En mis viajes por Internet, encontré un artículo sobre las “Principales 25 cosas que están desapareciendo de América”. Como era de esperarse, la pérdida de algunas “viejas tecnologías” como los VCR, las líneas telefónicas terrestres, la TV análoga figuraban en la lista. Sin embargo, lo que me chocó y motivó a escribir el blog de hoy fue la mención de los cangrejos azules de la Bahía de Chesapeake y las abejas de miel.

Maryland ha sido mi hogar durante casi 28 años. El cangrejo azul es casi un ícono estatal. Debo destacar que a mi familia a mí nos encanta comer cangrejos de diversas formas. En esta era de abogar por los hábitos culinarios locales, uno pensaría que viviendo en Maryland, el comer cangrejos sería aconsejable. Sin embargo, con este artículo del Internet, me he puesto a pensar–¿acaso debemos eliminar los cangrejos del menú por algún tiempo?

La pesca en exceso, la contaminación del agua, y los nutrientes excesivos están amenazando el cangrejo azul y la vida silvestre acuática en y alrededor de la Bahía Chesapeake, el estuario más grande en Estados Unidos. Esta importante cuenca fluvial abarca seis estados—Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pensilvania, Virginia Occidental, Nueva York y la capital federal, Washington, DC. EPA y sus socios estatales trabajan estrechamente para acelerar el progreso hacia una bahía saludable. Mediante el Programa de la Bahía de Chesapeake, EPA está tratando de hacer una diferencia en la restauración del hábitat del cangrejo azul al trabajar para mejorar la calidad del agua y la vegetación acuática sumergida. Entretanto, el rol de establecer las regulaciones para la cosecha del cangrejo azul recae primordialmente sobre los estados vecinos a la bahía.

Independientemente de su interés en la Bahía del Chesapeake o su cuenca fluvial local, hay pasos sencillos que puede tomar en su hogar, colegio, comunidad o lugar de trabajo para proteger estos preciados recursos acuáticos. Por ejemplo, ¡conserve agua—cada gota cuenta! ¡No eche el aceite de motor usado por la alcantarilla! El aceite usado de un simple cambio de aceite puede contaminar un millón de galones de agua fresca—el suministro de 50 personas para un año. Utilice técnicas de jardinería verde en su jardín. A fin de cuentas—aprenda y participe activamente en la protección ambiental.

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

About the Author: Dr. Robert Lackey is a senior scientist in EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon. He has been involved professionally with West Coast ecological issues for 44 years and was awarded EPA’s highest award, the Gold Medal, for his salmon work.

Recently I presented a talk to a group of community activists about why salmon populations along the West Coast have dropped to less than 5% of their historical levels. I’ve given such talks many times so I was confident that I had heard just about every question that might be asked. I was wrong.

The opening question was asked by a well known political activist. He was direct, pointed, and bursting with hostility: “You scientists always talk about our choices, but when will you finally tell us what we SHOULD do about the dramatic decline of West Coast salmon? Quit talking about the science and your research and tell us what we should do! Let’s get on with it!”

From the nods of approval offered by many in the audience, his impatience with science and scientists was broadly shared.

What does the public expect from scientists regarding today’s ecological policy issues? Some examples of such policy challenges include the decline of salmon; deciding on the proper role of wild fire on public lands; what to do, if anything, about climate change; the consequences of declining biological diversity; and making sense of the confusing policy choices surrounding “sustainability.”

The lament “if we just had some better science, a little more data, we could resolve this policy question” is common among both scientists and decision makers. Calls for more research are everywhere in ecological policy debates.

In most cases, even if we had complete scientific knowledge about all aspects of an issue, the same rancorous debate would emerge. Root policy differences are invariably over values and preferences, not science, data, and facts.

In a pluralistic society, with a wide array of values and preferences competing for dominance, the ecological policy debate is usually centered around whose values and preferences will carry the day rather than over scientific information.

So what was my answer to the emotionally charged question from the political activist? It was: “Science, although an important part of policy debates, remains but one element, and often a minor one, in the decision-making process. We scientists can assess the ecological consequences of various policy options, but in the end it is up to society to prioritize those options and make their choices accordingly.”

He wasn’t pleased.

About the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

Lea la versión en español a continuación de esta entrada en inglés.
Some links exit EPA or have Spanish content.

As I drive down the road following the vehicle in front of me, I can’t stop wondering about the beautiful surroundings. With every glimpse, as I try to slow down and drive through this narrow rural coastal road, Isabela’s sand dunes reveal before my eyes like a never ending spectacle. This is the part of my job I enjoy the most! It is a beautiful hot Monday with no clouds in sight and with every mile I feel the urge to dip into the clear blue water. Héctor Varela, my companion, a surfer and member of NUPA an NGO from the town of Isabela, stops at the end of the road and urges me to step outside of the comfortable 69F inside my car. I am taken aback by the foul smell coming from an area known to surfers as Guayabo. This is what I came here for: the smell. What began as a preoccupation some surfers had, has turned into a brand new assignment: coordinating a meeting between CEPD and the community to hear their concerns and find a solution to the problem.

This part of Isabela, known as Barrio Jobos is a paradise for tourists and local beach lovers. The panoramic views, submarine caves and great surfing provide the recreation and beauty that attracts thousands of people every year. A few years ago the problem was the trash on the highly dense areas of Jobos. Another NGO, Rescate Playas Isabela, adopted the beaches and began a massive restoration and cleanup project that has garnered them an EPA’s EQA in 2008. The ongoing work of these two NGO’s is an example of how environmental vigilance has come a long way from protesting as NGO’s have transformed into allies of the economic and tourism sector to showcase not only our natural resources but to be vigilant whenever they are being endangered and seek the advice from regulatory agencies.

Disfrutando del Paisaje

Mientras sigo al vehículo que va frente a mi no puedo dejar de admirar el bello paisaje a mi alrededor. Con cada vistazo y mientras trato de reducir la velocidad en esta carretera rural, las dunas de arena de la costa Isabelina
se revelan ante mis ojos como un espectáculo que no quiere terminar . Esta es la parte de mi trabajo que más disfruto! Es un lunes hermoso, el cielo está perfecto sin nubes y con cada milla que recorro siento la urgente necesidad de lanzarme al agua que luce de un hermoso tono azul turquesa claro. Héctor Varela, mi acompañante, conduce el auto que va al frente. El es un “surfer” y miembro del grupo ambiental comunitario Nación Unida Pro Ambiente (NUPA)
quienes están ubicados en la ciudad norteña de Isabela, famosa por las dunas que acabo de describir. Al llegar al final de nuestra travesía Héctor me pide que me baje del auto y abandone los cómodos 65F del acondicionador de aire. Lo hago con gusto ya que el paisaje es hermoso. Afuera el viento sopla hacia el norte y el calor, la humedad y el olor son insoportables. Hay algo huele mal y para eso he venido aquí a este sector conocido como Guayabo. Lo que comenzó como una preocupación de un grupo de “surfers” se ha convertido ahora para mí en una nueva asignación. Tengo que coordinar una reunión entre los residentes de esta comunidad y el personal de nuestra División de Protección Ambiental del Caribe (CEPD), a la que pertenezco, para hablar de este problema y encontrarle una solución.

Esta parte de Isabela, el Barrio Jobos, es un paraíso para turistas y amantes de la playa. Las vistas panorámicas, las cuevas submarinas y las olas perfectas para el “surfing” proveen el tipo de recreación y belleza que atrae a miles de personas cada año a estas costas. Hace pocos años el problema de la basura en las áreas más pobladas y visitadas de Jobos era un problema. Ya no lo es gracias al esfuerzo de otro grupo comunitario Rescate Playas Isabela, quienes no solo limpiaron y adoptaron las playas como lo anuncian los rótulos, si no que llevan a cabo esfuerzos masivos por mantenerlas limpias y concienzar a los visitantes y residentes. Todo este esfuerzo les ha valido un Envirormental Quality Award este año, este es el reconocimiento más alto que otorga la Región 2 a aquellos grupos, instituciones o personas que protegen el medioambiente. El trabajo de estos dos grupos NUPA y Rescate Playas Isabela es un claro ejemplo de cómo el rol vigilante de los grupos ambientales de base comunitaria se ha transformado de la protesta a la colaboración. Ellos son aliados vitales para que la economía y el turismo puedan progresar al mantener limpios nuestros más preciados recursos naturales no solo para el disfrute de los residentes pero también de aquellos que los visitan.