BOARD00356

• Board Meeting Date: 5/22/2000
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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United States Department of -he Interior

OFFICE OF TIre SECRETARY
Washington, D.C. 20240

MAR 3 1 2000

MEMORANDUM

To:

Conunissioner, Bureau of Reclamation
Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Secretary's Designee, Adaptive Managcment Work Group

MarlcSc~i:;S~aterandScience

From:

Subject: Institutional Home for the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center

Consistent with the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992 and the "Operation of Glen Canyon
Dam, Final Environmental Impact Statement" (GCDEIS) of 1995, the Grand Canyon Monitoring
and Research Center (GCMRC) was established by directive of the Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Water and Science on November 11, 1995 as one element of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive
Management Program. The ,1995 directive established GCMRC for an interim period, not to
exceed two years, under the guidance and oversight of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water
and Science, the: Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), or his designee, and the
Commissioner <lfthe Bureau ofRec1amation. or bis designee. In 1996, a Record of Decision was
issued implementing the recommendations coJrtained in the GCDEIS and a directive was issued by
the Deputy Assistant SecrelaIy for Water and Science on August 3, 1998 extending the
arrangements contained in the executive memo of 1995 up until this point in time.

Since the establishment ofGCMRC in 1995, discussions have been underway regarding the
appropriate institutional home for GCMRC. The recommendation contained in the GCDEIS
(p. 36) is, "... ~. the Secretary establish a researCh Center [GCMRC] within the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) and/or National Biological Servi~ with a small permanent staff in Flagstaff,
Arizona." In its 1999 report, the National Research Council (p. 12) articulated the folloWing
criteria for consideration inselec:ting a permanent institutional home for GCMRC:

"The Center Should be housed in a premier science organi7ation committed to physical,
biological, and social science inquiry,

the institutional home should enable the Center to work effectively with all Grand Canyon
and Glen Canyon Dam management agencies,

the institutional home should enable the Center to communicate scientific prOgram issues
and results directly with a management telllll at the Assistant Secretary level in the
Department of the Interior, and