United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Washington, D.C. 20240

DIRECTOR'S ORDER NO. 144

Subject: Greening the Service through Environmental Leadership 

Sec. 1 What is the purpose of this Order? This Order establishes our policy for "greening" the Service.

Sec. 2 What is the scope of this Order? This Order applies to all employees, contractors, partners, and volunteers of the Service. 

Sec. 3 What authorities provide guidance and authority to implement conservation activities as part of environmental leadership?

      a. Executive Order 12088, Federal Compliance with Pollution Control Standards, Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13101 et seq.). 

      b. Executive Order 13101, Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal Acquisition. 

      c. Executive Order 13112, Invasive Species. 

      d. Executive Order 13123, Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy Management.

      e. Executive Order 13148, Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management. 

      f. Executive Order 13149, Greening the Government Through Federal Fleet and Transportation Efficiency.

Sec. 4 Who is responsible for implementing this Order? All Service employees are responsible for implementing this Order. Any employee who makes decisions that impact our land and water resources, fiscal assets, contractual relationships, or visitor services must take all steps available to incorporate principles of environmental leadership. 

      a. Assistant and Regional Directors will routinely review and take corrective steps, if necessary, to ensure that the decisions and actions of our employees are consistent with environmental leadership, greening, and other conservation policies. 

      b. Managers at all levels will provide leadership and support employees' efforts to incorporate these principles in their daily work efforts by encouraging coordinated environmental leadership activities. Managers must demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the interdependency of the ecosystems, resources, biodiversity, and the human culture entrusted to our stewardship in order to better preserve, conserve, and protect them for future generations. Sustainability of our lands and facilities must be viewed in this context of the larger systems of which they are a part. 

      c. All employees, contractors, partners, and volunteers have a responsibility to educate others regarding environmental leadership. We must demonstrate through management practices, our commitment to environmental stewardship. This commitment may be demonstrated in the design and maintenance of facilities, our administrative practices, as well as in the educational and interpretive opportunities available to the public. We should require our contractors to commit to our greening practices. Our environmental leadership objectives should govern all decisions relating to the provision of commercial visitor services. 

Sec. 5 What definitions are applicable to this Order?

      a. Best Management Practices. A practice or combination of practices that industry generally accepts as the most effective and advanced means to maintain a superior level of environmental performance and which advances environmental leadership.

      b. Biodiversity. The variety of life and its processes, including the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur. 

      c. Environmental Leadership. Sustainable management practices that move beyond compliance with environmental regulations. It includes sound resource stewardship demonstrated in all aspects of conservation management and the active communication to our visitors and stakeholders.

      d. Environmentally Preferable. Products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. This comparison considers raw materials acquisition, production, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation, maintenance, or disposal of the product or service.

      e. Green Practices. Management standards incorporating products or services that have little or no harmful impact on the environment. 

      f. Life Cycle Cost. The amortized annual cost of a product, including capital costs, installation costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, and disposal costs discounted over the lifetime of the product. 

      g. Pollution Prevention. The use of materials, processes, or practices that reduce or eliminate the quantity and/or toxicity of wastes at the source of generation or the protection of natural resources by conservation. 

      h. Recyclable. The ability of a product or material to be recovered from, or otherwise diverted from, the solid waste stream for recycling. 

      i. Recycling. Activities including collection, separation, and processing by which products or materials are recovered from the solid waste stream for use as raw materials in the manufacture of new products other than fuel for producing heat or power by combustion. 

      j. Recycle. The act of reusing a previously used item for another purpose. 

      k. Sustainability. Actions that promote social equity, economic viability, and ecological integrity and biodiversity, to meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs through waste prevention, recycling, or purchasing recycled and environmentally preferable products. 

Sec. 6 How will the Service implement this Order? We must make environmental leadership systemic to our mission, culture, policies, operations, activities, planning, management decisions, and day-to-day tasks. To do so, we will incorporate the most ecologically sound and environmentally beneficial technologies, tools, materials and practices into all aspects of planning, operations, land and water protection, natural and cultural resource management, wilderness management, interpretation, education, facility design, facility construction, facility maintenance, lease acquisition, procurement, and contracted and/or permitted commercial visitor services. In taking actions that have environmental impact, we will first consider exclusion of those actions not deemed mission critical or "necessary and appropriate" for refuges, hatcheries, wetland management districts, ecological services, law enforcement, and other Service operations. 

Sec. 7 How does this Order relate to other guidance that governs our environmental management responsibilities? This Order complements all other Orders, mandates, regulations, and other guidance for implementing our environmental management responsibilities, and provides a framework for other decisions that may involve environmental evaluations where no stand-alone order exists. This Order also incorporates proactive initiatives that have taken place in our Regional Offices and field stations and builds on these successful efforts to create a systematic approach to this issue. These are: 

      a. Organizational Capacity in Environmental Leadership. 

           (1) Environmental Leadership Training. Service employees, contractors, and concession operators must have a comprehensive understanding of their relationship to environmental leadership. We will add training modules to existing training programs and develop core environmental leadership competencies. We will work in partnership with other governmental agencies, universities, and organizations in a committed effort to share expertise and research on sustainability indicators. 

           (2) Environmental Auditing. We will measure, track, and report on environmental compliance and performance through environmental audits. Audits will ensure environmental compliance, emphasize best management practices, and educate employees at all levels about environmental management responsibilities. Executive Order 13148 requires audits that include environmentally preferable purchasing, waste prevention, and environmental protocols. 

           (3) Environmental Management System (EMS). Executive Order 13148 requires implementation of an EMS for the Service. The EMS requires a more comprehensive and sustainable approach in improving environmental performance for the Service. We will incorporate EMS requirements into the Service-auditing program. We will conduct a baseline EMS assessment, identify opportunities for improvement and implement improvements at all appropriate facilities based on size, complexity, and environmental aspects of the facilities. 

           (4) Performance Evaluation. Environmental leadership is a significant factor in the annual performance evaluation of each program manager and/or project leader of a unit of the Service. We will evaluate managers on the inclusion of environmental leadership principles in their management decisions, including the appointment of waste prevention and recycling coordinators to carry out tasks at Regional and field levels. 

           (5) Awards Program. We will develop a Servicewide awards program to reward and highlight innovative programs and individuals showing outstanding environmental leadership. 

      b. Environmental Leadership in Administration.

           (1) Procurement. We will practice materials stewardship by incorporating environmentally preferable requirements in all procurement practices. We will capitalize on the availability of environmentally preferable products and services, and model the behaviors and actions mandated for the private sector that are contracted via Federal acquisition regulations. We will purchase the highest available recycled content and least toxic products and promote life cycle costing for all purchases. Environmentally responsible leases will be the standard for all leased space. Appliances and office equipment will be energy efficient and energy star compliant. 

           (2) Contracting. We will work with stakeholders and business partners to augment our environmental leadership and sustainability efforts. We will also incorporate environmentally preferable language standards into all of our contracts and leases. 

           (3) Financial Assistance. Our financial assistance documents and partnering agreements will include provisions to guide and encourage States, communities, nonprofit organizations, and individuals to embrace environmental stewardship and greening concepts.

      c. Planning for Environmental Leadership.

           (1) Conservation Planning. 

                (a) We will support planning that conserves undeveloped land, open space, and agricultural land, and protects water quality and minimizes or eliminates the disruption of natural ecosystems and flood plains. 

                (b) Planning will emphasize equitable protection of public health, safety, and welfare, specifically that of disadvantaged individuals and communities. We will practice participatory planning by integrally involving local communities in setting the vision for and developing plans and actions that influence communities and regions. 

           (2) Community Outreach, Assistance, and Planning.

                (a) We will work with communities to develop comprehensive greening plans where appropriate. We will pursue partnerships with communities that embrace and foster environmental awareness and stewardship. Managers and project leaders will collaborate community-planning efforts, when possible, and provide technical assistance to communities for community and regional planning. External stakeholders and the public will be partners in avoiding, reducing, or mitigating negative impacts to our lands and waters resulting from activities outside our boundaries. 

                (b) We will emphasize the best-proven sustainable technologies and concepts from all sources through partnerships and outreach. This will include energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy. We will encourage and reward innovative measures which further the objectives of environmental leadership. 

      d. Interpretation and Education of Environmental Leadership. We will advise our business partners and other Service land and facility users on environmental leadership. We will provide opportunities for visitors to learn about the principles of environmental leadership and sustainability by example and through our practices. Lands and facilities that have examples of energy conservation, recycling, green procurement, sustainable design and construction, or best environmental practices will share those practices with the public through appropriate media such as wayside exhibits, brochures, and interpretive educational material. Where appropriate and authorized, we will examine ways to promote environmental leadership as part of school curriculums, and provide technical assistance and advice to communities in their efforts to become more environmentally sustainable. 

      e. Environmental Leadership in Facilities Management.

           (1) Building Design and Construction.

                (a) The design, construction, maintenance, and operations of buildings have a tremendous impact on our environment and our natural resources. Buildings consume large amounts of energy and contribute to indoor air quality problems and outdoor air pollution. Green building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally-sound and resource-efficient buildings. Green buildings are "smart" buildings that use a minimum of nonrenewable energy, produce a minimum of pollution, and cost a minimum of energy dollars, while creating healthy and comfortable work environments. "Smart" buildings promote resource conservation. While this approach may initially cost more, the benefits of conservation far outweigh the negative impact on the environment if we ignore these principles.

               (b) "Smart" buildings use "whole building" design principles that look at the entire picture of building performance. Creating sustainable buildings starts with proper site selection and building orientation. We will find ways to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, and utilize renewable fuel resources in federal facilities. We will select building materials with recycled content that do not contribute to the waste stream and do not deplete limited natural resources. Improved water quality and reduced water consumption will also be incorporated into our facilities. 

           (2) Demolition Deconstruction of Structures. We will change the way we approach the demolition of structures that are no longer useful. Demolition may mark the end of a building's life cycle; however, it is not the end for individual component materials or products for subsequent recycling/reuse/disposal stage. Managers and project leaders will encourage the practice of deconstruction, to reuse or recycle building materials, if feasible. Useful materials should be separated from old buildings and either sold or reused. 

           (3) Energy Management. We will make responsible energy use fundamental to the development and operation of our lands and facilities, as well as to contractor and commercial visitor services. The energy management process will emphasize energy awareness, energy conservation, and energy efficiency, as well as the use of renewable energy resources, including bio-based fuels. We will substantially reduce energy usage below recommended standards through responsive design such as day lighting, solar, geothermal, and photovoltaic techniques. We will promote renewable energy sources where feasible and appropriate. 

           (4) Landscape Management.

                (a) We will protect natural cultural and historical resources under our stewardship through comprehensive environmental compliance and the use of ecologically based land management and planning strategies. Our goal is to reduce or eliminate toxic chemicals for pest and vegetation control. Managers and project leaders will look for alternatives that are more beneficial to ecosystems, and use composting practices to augment soils and reduce waste. We will also use native landscape materials to link adjacent habitats to Service infrastructure. Erosion and sediment control measures will be comprehensively instituted on all of our lands. 

                (b) Managers and project leaders will manage landscapes with biodiversity and resource stewardship as primary goals, and will monitor, maintain, and/or enhance the quality of air, water, soils, and scenery. We will protect resources from excessive visitor use determined by scientifically established carrying capacities, and untimely visitor use during natural occurrences such as breeding seasons or fires. 

           (5) Water Consumption and Wastewater Management. We will significantly reduce water consumption and provide or improve wastewater discharges from our lands that will improve overall environmental quality. 

                (a) Maximize water conservation efforts at every facility. 

                (b) Use innovative wastewater treatment solutions that reduce the use of toxic chemicals and minimize pollutant levels in wastewater discharge. 

                (c) Install composting toilets, where appropriate, and use reclaimed wastewater effluent, gray water, or runoff from surfaces for toilet flushing or irrigation of vegetative landscape where feasible and appropriate. 

           (6) Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. We will significantly reduce the amount of waste generated and will prevent pollution from occurring at its source by evaluating and minimizing the quantity of materials brought onto our lands that are not durable, not biodegradable, or not recyclable. To accomplish this goal, we will:

                (a) Divert maximum amounts of waste from landfills and reduce or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals. 

                (b) Identify and delete ozone depleting substances from our inventory. 

                (c) Materials will be reused onsite or sent offsite for recycling. 

                (d) Restore disturbed and contaminated lands and waters to healthy conditions. 

                (e) Pursue solid waste reduction goals in accordance with the Strategic Plan for Greening the Department of the Interior Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition.

           (7) Commercial Visitor Service. We will require concession and commercial visitor service operators to demonstrate sound environmental management and a commitment to superior environmental performance, which enhances the protection, conservation, and preservation of resources. Further, environmental performance criteria will be incorporated into standard contract language requiring the development of an environmental management program for concessionaires used by the Service. Environmental standards will also be developed for concession operation evaluations. Environmental audits will be conducted of concessions operations to ensure compliance, minimize environmental liability, promote concessionaire awareness regarding environmental management and identify opportunities to incorporate best management practices, sustainability and pollution prevention. 

      f. Fleet and Transportation Management. We will reduce dependency on nonrenewable energy sources and will ensure that the Service experience remains environmentally friendly. We will seek alternative transportation systems that transport people to and through our lands by conducting regional transportation planning with jurisdictions surrounding our Regional Offices and field stations. As part of our internal fleet management practices, we will strive to reduce our reliance on traditional fuel based vehicles. 

Sec. 8 What is the effective date of this Order? This Order is effective immediately. We will incorporate its contents into Part 301 of the Fish and Wildlife Service Manual.

Sec. 9 When does this Order expire? Its provisions will remain in effect until June 30, 2003, unless amended, superseded, or revoked. 
 
 

Date:  May 7, 2002