Laserfiche WebLink
Institutional Barriers and Interagency Cooparea�, onig <br />Coordinate Among Federal Agencies <br />6 Interior will cooperate with other <br />federal agencies to more effectively <br />focus federal dollars on critical water <br />short areas, coordinating to enhance <br />water management preparedness. <br />,,'Through active support of the National <br />Drought Monitoring Network, Interior will <br />help accelerate the development of an <br />important tool to drought preparedness. <br />✓The Departments of the Interior and <br />Agriculture will create Drought Action <br />Teams to focus scarce resources <br />quickly where and when they are <br />needed. <br />✓The USGS will team with other <br />agencies to create a monthly Water <br />Resources Assessment that will be <br />available online so that decision makers <br />can better understand the water supply <br />component of drought conditions. <br />Interior interacts with many different <br />stakeholders, including farmers; <br />ranchers, cities, tribes, consen-ation <br />groups and others. As part of the <br />effort to establish the National Drought <br />Monitoring Network, Interior believes <br />that one -stop shopping for Western <br />water users on a single government <br />Nvebsite will aid in problem solving, <br />particularly in critical areas. Such a <br />site can provide information on snow <br />pack, runoff, river operations, <br />forecasting, and drought prediction. <br />This effort will be consistent with the <br />President's Management Agenda <br />initiative furthering e- government. <br />Drought Action Teams will enable each department to respond quickly to emerging water <br />supply shortages, and to coordinate the implementation of existing programs to maximize the <br />benefits of available resources. Upon the concurrence of both secretaries that an extreme <br />water shortage event is likely to exist in a particular area, a Drought Action Team will be <br />created for that area. Each team will include department -level policy staff in addition to <br />appropriate staff from bureaus or agencies within each department. It is anticipated that these <br />teams will exist only for the limited time required to ensure that D ®I and USDA resources are <br />being applied in a coordinated and streamlined manner. <br />r <br />AA <br />2 5 <br />