WELCOME

The proposed Great Basin Environmental Program is a bold and innovative environmental management initiative modeled after the Chesapeake Bay Program and approximately 25 other estuarial environmental programs that have been operating in the United States since the approval of the Clean Water Act. It will be the first such program aimed at a terrestrial area, the Great Basin, designated as one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the United States. The proposal will establish partnerships and integrate efforts with federal agencies, state agencies, NGOs and the private sector to address critical ecosystem issues.

The proposed Great Basin Environmental Program will not only support existing initiatives addressing the environment issues in the Great Basin, but will be more encompassing. The program will feature involvement from the communities, federal and state agencies and academic institutions in a comprehensive effort to reverse the environmental damage that currently exists, and develop policies and regulations that can provide an improved livelihood for the growing and changing distribution of the population and visitors to the Great Basin.

The Great Basin Environmental Program will enhance existing environmental initiatives currently operating in the basin. Efforts that are under way in the Great Basin or in parts of the Great Basin include, but are not limited to the Joint Fire Sciences Program, the Sage Steppe Project, USDA IFAFS Restoration of Cheat Grass Infested Range Lands, the New Collaborative Management and Research in the Great Basin Effort. It is anticipated that some of these projects could be singled out by the governors and the congressional delegations for direct support by the Great Basin Environmental Program.

An initial organizational workshop for the Great Basin Environmental Program was held at the University of Nevada, Reno on October 26, 2006. In attendance at the workshop were forty representatives from the University of Nevada, Reno; the University of Idaho; the University of California, Davis; Oregon State University; Utah State University; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; the Desert Research Institute, the Bureau of Land Management; the US Fish and Wildlife; USDA Forest Service; the Nevada Department of Wildlife; and Resource Concepts Inc. In addition, these issues were presented to selected representatives of state and federal agencies at a conference on Collaborative Watershed Management and Research in Reno on November 29, 2006. The agency leaders present agreed to sign a “Letter of Cooperation” endorsing the Great Basin Environmental Project. A similar document will be developed for the cooperating educational institutions.