G. Ronnie Best
1. support of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan/REstoration COordination and VERification (CERP/RECOVER) by USGS participation in CERP PDT and RECOVER meetings and working with federal, State, and other restoration partners to ensure technology transfer and science synthesis
2. Assistance with Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Science (GE PES) coordination
3. USGS liaison with US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
A. The PI is an active participant of RECOVER Assessment Team, MAP Implementation subteam, and Quality Assurance Oversight Team (QAOT). She also monitors the activities of approximately 6 other key CERP projects for relevance to USGS science. Nineteen USGS projects were funded by USACE in FY07 totaling about $3.5 M for MAP or other CERP activities. The PI assisted in timely preparation of over 35 modifications that funded these efforts, coordinated report delivery by 15 PIs and resolved multiple issues related to SOW changes, invoicing, and other project aspects.
B.The PI managed the EDEN project that delivered the EDENweb to the public via SOFIA in Feb. 2007. Workshops in January 2007 at 3 locations (SFWMD, ENP, USFWS) informed users of EDEN’s capabilities and sought input for improved and relevant products. The surface water model was tested, completed, and documented. The surfaces were posted to the EDENweb in October 2007. The EDEN team completed multiple publications and journal articles for which the PI served as reviewer for 4 of them. The PI managed all aspects of budgeting, work plan development and product delivery (including progress reports, regular status reports, and documentation reports) which was hampered this year by the lose of 2 team members. Replacement team members were sought and brought up to speed with little impact to the work plan deadlines.
C.The PI worked closely with SFWMD, ENP, and BCNP to ensure technology transfer as related to EDEN, drought management, data management and other areas. For example, the SFWMD drought monitoring team requested a meeting with the EDEN staff to determine how we can provide information to this group as they monitor drought conditions on a real-time basis and better understand the data in "dry" conditions. The EDEN project took extra effort to obtain ground elevation data at all the EDEN gages (over 200) for the purpose of drought monitoring. We are considering options for monitoring below ground water levels with several shallow ground water wells in FY08.
This includes coordination or support of workshops/conferences, providing administrative support for workshop/conference contracts, and facilitating workshop follow up and synthesis; coordination of GE PES project progress reviews as requested by the GE PES Coordinator and providing follow up to decisions and actions from reviews; reviewing reports and other documents from DOI agencies and CERP-related activities; coordinating reviews by GE PES PIs as requested; tracking the following selected GE PES projects for status and budget: SOFIA by assisting SOFIA project staff with timelines, workplans, priorities, and report planning and TIME/SICS by assisting with prioritizing tasks relevant to customer agency's needs and facilitating and supporting partner agency use of the models; and conducting special assignments from the GE PES Coordinator as requested.
The PI reviewed several documents at the request of the GE PES Coordinator and provided biweekly summaries for the DOI Status reports. She kept the GE PES Coordinator informed of issues of concern related to CERP and USACE, such as funding, project status, and reporting.
The PI assisted with 19 Economy Act packages for USGS projects totaling approximately $ 3.5 M. With dwindling USACE staff for MAP coordination, she provided even more support to the USACE for review, oversight, and documentation preparation for MAP-funded and other CERP-funded activities. She has worked closely with USACE legal and contracting staff to address concerns about authorization for funding under circumstances where cooperative agreements are used by the USGS. She was encouraged by the USGS Office of Surface Water (OSW) staff to reinstitute the annual USGS-USACE meeting associated with the National Cooperative Streamgaging Program. She is developing plans for an annual meeting in June, 2008.
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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