February 02, 2005: FWS/USGS Join Leadership Meeting on Future Challenge

Meeting as a Directorate over the past several years, we have had many excellent discussions related to getting the Service out ahead of events and developments that are increasingly recognized as great challenges to our profession. We have acknowledged the need to make a more concerted effort to identify and address challenges that will define our ability to successfully conserve fish, wildlife and plants on global, national and regional scales during the next two decades, and beyond. In October 2003, when we met with the executive leadership of the U.S. Geological Survey, we pledged to work together on these future challenges. A short time later, Chip Groat and I asked several senior members of our staff to assemble a team and begin identifying these future challenges and ways to position our bureaus to meet them and best accomplish our conservation mission.

Since that simple beginning, a small but effective team has worked to design and launch the Future Challenges Project. The brief history and noteworthy accomplishments of the Future Challenges Team are summarized in the attachment below. Suffice-it-to-say, they have done a superb job of opening a dialogue within both bureaus and with a select number of outside partners that is now focusing our attention on challenges that will define our ability to successfully conserve trust species and manage Service lands and facilities in the coming decades. The goal of this effort is to develop shared strategies and actions that our bureaus will take to meet those challenges. Those strategies and actions extend to the science that USGS will provide to prepare and inform operational managers in the Service, and to activities those managers will undertake in applying and evaluating science-based management approaches to addressing these four challenges:

While we are off to an excellent start with the Future Challenges Project, it is only a beginning. We have a long way to go in positioning both bureaus to effectively address these future challenges. We must now draw upon the expertise and skills of our leaders, managers and scientists as we refine our understanding of the four future challenges, how they will affect conservation of trust species and management of Service lands and facilities, and what we must do to continue to be successful in our conservation mission. In short, we must now expand the dialogues within and between our bureaus and with our partners, so we understand how the Service and USGS can best use our current infrastructure and capabilities, and so we can develop additional infrastructure and capabilities needed to be successful in addressing future challenges.

When we gather again with the USGS executive leadership, at NCTC in early February, we will discuss Phase 2 of the Future Challenges Project. Chip Groat and I will propose an approach that will raise the bar for all of us. Only through a process that taps into the leadership, managerial and technical assets of both bureaus can we develop approaches that will be effective in positioning both organizations to succeed in the face of these emerging challenges.

The attachment describes the approach that Chip and I support and explains our expectations and the roles and responsibilities inherent in making Phase 2 successful. Please read the attachments and come to our meeting prepared to discuss these next steps with the Directorate and our partners at USGS. Also, come prepared to commit to specific roles and actions you want to be responsible for leading or undertaking. As you prepare for these discussions, understand that it is unlikely that new resources will be available this year to support our commitments to this important project. While I know these are tough times financially, I also know that we cannot afford to let these emerging challenges escape our resolve and attention. Our ability to provide strong and sustained leadership is essential to meeting these challenges.

I look forward to working with you on this at NCTC.

Steve Williams