1. Urban Waters Federal Partnership
Thank you to Carl, Dianna---USGS has been a leader in the UWFP—receptive to new ideas, willing to forge new partnerships, and encourage some of her sister bureaus in engaging.
Thank you to Wharton and Susan for hosting us today—learning a tremendous amount and look forward to discussing more about how the Federal family can better assist cities.
Will provide an overview and national perspective of the UWFP—in the audience we have one of our “Ambassadors” Michael Leff of the Delaware River watershed who can chime in about on-the-ground efforts; as well as Dave Lange from NPS Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance Program who is also extremely active in the
May 19, 2015 lisa pelstring Advisor, Urban Environmental issues U.s. Department of the interior

2. Urban Waters Federal Partnership
14 Federal agencies
Vision: Protect and restore America’s urban waters and the lands that surround them. Reconnect communities, especially economically distressed communities, to those waters.
Program Components
19 Locations w/ Ambassadors
HQ Team
28 NGOs
Grants
Urbanwaters.gov
The program focuses on underserved communities – those who need our support most.
Really want to give kudos to EPA—they launched the effort, fed it money from other programs/redirected funds, took it out of the Administrators office and housed it in Office of Water and has been
Launched in 2011, since that time grown from 10 to 14 feds, 7 to 19 sites, and in 2014 began concerted effort to work with national NGOs to align resources.
Our Goal: WORK COLLECTIVELY ACROSS THE FEDERAL FAMILY TO RESTORE URBAN WATERS, IMPROVE ACCESS, AND REGREEN CITIES
HOW?
Directly through funding and implementing projects,
With Local Ambassadors or leaders who convene community to identify priority projects and convene feds to help meet those needs—Workplans—MAYOR OFFICE Embedding or LOCAL NGO EMBEDDING
HQ team that meets monthly—allows us to resolve issues faster
INCENTIVES
When we coordinate, we deliver more streamlined and integrated support to our local partners—LOCAL COMMUNITIES LOVE IT
Why should feds bother? The partnership also provides a powerful tool for advancing an individual agency’s mission, by leveraging the investments of other feds.
Example, EPA was able to take a grants program that is focused on water quality (Urban Waters Small Grants), and open it up to applicants working on issues of access to water/RECREATION (of interest to DOI).
28 NGOs EXAMPLE: TCF and APA bringing 500K to Baltimore metro region to develop green corridors from the downtown core to rural fields
•Map existing green infrastructure contributing to coastal storm resilience
•Prioritize and map green infrastructure enhancement opportunities
•Evaluate best governance mechanisms for managing and protecting green infrastructure
•Build a better regional green infrastructure network 

3. DOI Urban Waters—Four Bureaus
Interior has multiple bureaus bringing resources and expertise to pilot sites—USGS, FWS, NPS, and Reclamation
DOI lead/co-lead at 3 pilots: Washington, DC; Grand Rapids; NYC
Address climate resilience, GI, economic development, recreation and access, restoration, public health, contaminants, water quality, urban habitat
DOI is an urban agency
101 urban refuges across the country within 25 miles of cities with a population of 250,000 or more
More than 75 urban National Parks featuring both historic and natural areas
245 million acres of Recreational lands that serve millions of urban residents
USGS already working in cities across the country providing water quality and quantity research, addressing contaminants, land-use data, flooding and hazards research, and more.
MAIN POINTS
1. DOI is an urban agency—strong footprint in cities across the country—through programs and parks
2. UWFP has provided a foundation for Interior to better unite and strengthen its collective urban activities.
Best known for its management of wild national parks in the West, the Department of the Interior has a strong footprint in cities across the country.
The trails running through local parks established by NPS
The greenstreet that Reclamation installed raised home property values
Public lands in and near cities are managed by BLM
Historic buildings restored with NPS funding
Urban stream and wetlands restored by FWS
Science on water supply and urban wildlife and habitat provided by USGS

4. Early Wins
Interior awarded ~$5M for New York city for restoration projects along the Bronx and Harlem Rivers; recently successful in persuading state to devote $8M for park access project DOI providing VISTAs to five pilot sites (college graduates helping alleviate poverty; work with Ambassadors) Interior LOS helped secure ~$25M in TIGER funds for 2 pilots—Washington, DC, and Boston FWS funding environmental assessment for dam removal on the Grand River; USGS $100K for mapping; NPS RTCA technical assistance grants
Not just financial assistance though.
Technical assistance and leveraging—UWFP can take credit for shaking loose a report stuck in bureaucratic review for two years
Also share major credit an agency selecting a restoration alternative that was advocated by local Los Angeles community.
As well as getting state and Amtrak back to the negotiating table when talks stalled and funding disappeared for a park access project.

5. Growing the Partnership
Grants
NFWF—~$6M to 160 local groups
EPA Small UW Grants--$6M to 140 groups
National Invitee Workshop in 2016
Open-to-all conference in 2017
Private sector interest
Organizations representing communities of color
Office of Management and Budget = national metrics
Local NGOs signatory effort
Growing interest on Capitol Hill
28 National NGOs = New Partners
The Sierra Club
Trust for Public Land
The Conservation Fund
The Nature Conservancy
American Planning Associations
The Chesapeake Conservancy 
US Water Alliance
American Rivers
National Assoc. of Clean Water Agencies
Izaak Walton League
Society of Municipal Arborists
Wilderness Inquiry
….more
Our biggest strengths—
Working collectively we can accomplish MORE—IDYING PARTNERS WE WOULD HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED—Art Institutions, Federal Reserve –urban farm and aquaponics project in ward 7 in DC working w/ DC Comm. on Arts == RFP for functional public art that captures stormwater
Focus in underserved areas where need is greatest
For a very modest investment, the federal family has been nimble and accomplished a great deal through UWFP
CEOs from 28 organizations became “New Partners for Urban Waters” in December 2014 – American Forest, The Conservation Fund examples
The Conservation Fund, APA working with partners on developing a regional GI plan having looked at over 300 types of GI plans at the regional, state, local, county, city levels. Few of the jurisdictions have taken an explicit comprehensive, systems approach and very few have considered through the lense of resilience. SO JURISDICTIONS ARE BASICALLY IMPLEMENTING GI WHERE AND WHEN THEY CAN
American Forests support for 3 new cities--$100K each; also working on unique DC urban Farm project
GROWING demand from communities, despite the fact that there are no dedicated resources at this time. Five cities have expressed interest in applying—Minneapolis and St. Paul have already developed an application.
Meeting soon with Green Latinos—recognize that these 28 NGOs reflect small percentage of who we need to engage at national level.

6. Powerful Inter-Agency Platform supported by WH CEQ and DPC
Collaborative Federalism can work
End with a question: What do metropolitan areas need most from the feds? Related to GI, regreening cities, creating hyperfunctional parks and greenspaces, addressing long-standing issue of contaminants, etc?
A shortage of scientific research on the needs of urban wildlife. Like conservationists, many biologists have treated cities and suburbs as lost causes unworthy of their attention.
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These are the descriptions of how each agency’s mission and programs align with the Partnership:
US Department of Interior: Assist in building trails; increase public access to river resources; help restore and protect habitat and wildlife; educate and employ urban youth; and assess and help safeguard water quality.
Army Corps of Engineers: Offer engineering services, research and technical support to stakeholders during the planning, design, construction and operation of water resources and associated environmental infrastructure.
Corporation for National and Community Service: Recruiting, organizing and maximizing the impact of community volunteers.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: CDC/ATSDR will serve to offer guidance and technical assistance to local health officials and community members in conducting community-based environmental health assessments and creating an accurate and verifiable profile of communities' environmental health status.
Environmental Protection Agency: Use statutory authority to protect and preserve water quality and provide assistance in assessing and addressing legacy contamination.
Federal Emergency Management Agency [from Nancy: rebuild strong, resilient communities following disasters]
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Assist with health studies related to community environmental conditions.
US Department of Agriculture: Help communities to plan, manage, and sustain farm and forest landscapes on public and private ownership along a complex rural to urban gradient to promote watershed health and protect water resources, from the source to the faucet
US Department of Commerce/Economic Development Administration: Foster the creation of high-skill jobs and the generation of private capital investment in distressed communities.
US Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Provide unique scientific products and services designed to boost economic vitality, restore habitat, and mitigate hazards and contamination in coastal, Great Lakes, and other locations.
US Department of Education: Department of Education Joins the Urban Waters Federal Partnership. School communities connect to their local waters. Science and civic engagement skills prepare students for jobs of the future.
US Department of Energy: U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy joins the Urban Waters Federal Partnership. DOE helps communities accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
US Department of Housing and Urban Development: Help the community improve access to affordable housing.
US Department of Transportation: Help the community in designing improved transportation corridors, bikeways, walkways

7. Urban Waters Federal Partnership Locations
SAN ANTONIO JUST JOINED AS NEW PILOT CITY AS OF DECEMBER 2014
18 Current Locations for Federal Partnerships
Anacostia River in Washington, DC
Bronx and Harlem Rivers in New York, New York
Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana
Los Angeles River in Los Angeles, California
Lake Michigan/Little Calumet River in Northwest Indiana
Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland
South Platte River in Denver, Colorado
May 2013 eleven additional partnership locations
The Middle Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico (PDF)
Proctor Creek Watershed in Atlanta, Georgia (PDF)
The Mystic River Watershed in Chelsea/Everett/North of Boston (PDF)
The Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan (PDF)
The Middle Blue River in Kansas City, Missouri (PDF)
The Passaic River in Passaic, New Jersey (PDF)
The Delaware River Watershed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PDF)
The Martín Peña in San Juan, Puerto Rico (PDF)
The Green-Duwamish Watershed in Seattle, Washington (PDF)
The Meramec and Big River Watershed in St. Louis, Missouri (PDF)
The Western Lake Erie Basin in Toledo, Ohio (PDF)
Original UWFP Location
UWFP Location Announced in 2013