BLOG

RCO Policy Changes Public Comment Request: Youth Athletic Facilities (YAF) Program

RCO Staff recently posted an invitation for public comment on potential policy changes affecting the Youth Athletic Facilities (YAF) program and the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program – Local Parks category. Four policy proposals are under development:

Read More

2022 NEPA Annual Report Available

The National Association of Environmental Professionals’ National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Working Group is pleased to present the 2022 Annual NEPA Report. This report contains summaries of NEPA development during the year as well as the NEPA Working Group’s efforts for the past year. This report is prepared and published through the initiative and volunteer efforts of members of the NAEP NEPA Working Group.

Read More

NAEP-SC Student Scholarship Program + Other Updates

We have two exciting new updates we’d like to share with you and would like you to check out on our website, naep-sc.org, and the deadline to apply is June 1. Please help us get the word out!

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 20: Earth's Natural Limits

In this place we call home, do we always try to find the life within it – our ecology of place?  The poet Mary Oliver once said, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.”  I have found that to listen is to learn, to pay attention is to be present within our most lively of voices, with our eyes looking toward greater measures of trustworthiness – understanding what is sacred to all people within our environment.  This purposeful focus opens a path to ecocentrism, evoking a wind-shift of guiding ideas, and rebalancing our relationship with the earth. 

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 18 & 19: Leading with Language – At Any Level

Over the years I have considered myself fortunate to have had two successful careers, one as an environmental professional in cultural resource management ([CRM] where I am now) and one in archaeological publishing (my past life). During my time in publishing, I collaborated with archaeologists all over the world as a book editor and production manager, which taught me, ironically, important language skills I needed to succeed in a 100-percent remote setting. Some skills I learned through trial and error, and some I learned through formal training. I found, however, as I transitioned back to CRM those skills were entirely transferable but poorly understood. But I was excited to bring this new way of communicating and leadership to the field by practicing several simple language principles that can be practiced no matter what position you hold: listen first-talk last; assume good intentions, not bad; eliminate the ego; avoid deficit language and be appreciative.

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 17: Infrastructure Investment and Climate Change

We have all heard a lot about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the 1.2 trillion dollars that it promises to pump into fixing our roads, bridges and other infrastructure.  What might not be readily apparent to some who have not yet taken a deep dive into the IIJA is what the investment could do for climate change. The IIJA proposes to invest approximately $75 billion in targeted carbon emission reduction initiatives and billions more in other initiatives that will have the effect on reducing emissions.  Below are some of the key emissions reduction initiatives addressed by the IIJA:

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 16: Remain Intimate

“I want to tell you what the forests
were like – I will have to speak
in a forgotten language.”

--W.S. Merwin



Read More

Leadership Blog Part 15: Connecting with Our Community

Recently I reflected on Tony Hiss’s book In Motion – The Experience of Travel. Hiss talks about the experience of deep travel. The point of travel is more than getting from point A to point B; it is first and foremost an experience, the experience of traveling to planned destinations. And then it is something more – the experience of the unplanned encounters and realizations along the way. We can teach ourselves to have more deep travel moments – both far from home and close to it and within our community. We can learn the human dimension of travel and our emotions associated with the travel choices we make. Creating livable, integrated communities that preserve, in fact enhance, our quality of place is a collective, collaborative process, and it takes all of us to realize its far-reaching benefits. 

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 14: The Ecology of Place

How often do we consider our relationship to place? How often is it foremost in our minds and hearts that we belong to and are being shaped by a specific place? We are truly in relationship with the landscape, both the built and natural landscape. Whether we know it or not, ours is a conscious and subconscious decision to be here; here in a place that reflects the emotional landscape we move through.

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 13: Environmental Professionals Day 2021

Last year as COVID restrictions were being initiated throughout the world, NAEP had just shifted from an in-person conference format to a remote conference. At that time, scientists were not being held in high regard in many venues. NAEP was very concerned about how as an organization we were going to navigate this new paradigm of helping our members stay engaged and informed considering all of the changes and uncertainties. Our jobs are critical for public health and safety as well as delivering solutions for the delivery of infrastructure. A conversation with David Bancroft, Executive Director of the International Association of Impact Assessment, about the challenges of engaging our professionals sparked an idea of running a social media event of "Thank an Environmental Professional Day". NAEP and IAIA did a media blast which was well received.

Read More

Stories and Science: Eco-justice, Action & Hope

Stories and Science: Eco-justice, Action & Hope

The National Storytelling Network has an Open Call for Proposals for their EarthUp conference to be held online this April. The theme of the conference is "Stories and Science: Eco-justice, Action & Hope." We are especially looking for interactive panels, workshops, and masterclasses that address issues around eco-justice and effective action in the world. Proposals are peer-reviewed. An honorarium is provided for those accepted for the conference. Please consider offering a workshop panel or master class.

Submit a Proposal

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 11:59 pm Wednesday, January 12, 2022, Central U.S. Time.

Leadership Blog Part 12: Weather Forecast - Visibility limited, extremely variable weather pattern with numerous storm fronts expected in 2021

I am not sure how many zoom meetings, webinars or casual conversations I have had over the past few weeks in which a question has been raised about what does the election mean for environmental professionals in 2021. For the past three years, NAEP has been keeping our professionals up to date with Advanced NEPA Workshops, 10 webinars a year, the NAEP annual conferences, Eblasts, quarterly editions of the Environmental Professionals Bulletin, NEPA/Cultural Resources/Biological Resources working groups, and responding to rule making so that our members have the tools to do their jobs of assessing the environmental effects using science so that the decision makers can make informed decisions. What do I see for 2021? Uncertainty! I do see a positive trend that the new administration is supportive of addressing climate change and basing decisions using science. The new administration’s transition team includes professionals with longtime experience in CEQ. I am hoping that the result is that the scientists, planners and engineers will be part of creating solutions to some of our critical environmental challenges. I do think that NAEP is going to be very busy in 2021 tracking ongoing litigation, proposed legislation, and rule making to ensure that our members have the information in a timely manner to do our jobs. 

Leadership Blog Part 11: Introducing Environmental Professionals Radio (EPR)

NAEP has a podcast and I love it. Environmental Professionals Radio (EPR) is out now, wherever you get your podcasts (please subscribe!). Full disclosure, I am one of the hosts and therefore biased, but I honestly can’t help but smile when I click the Zoom link and start talking to my new friend and co-host, Laura Thorne. Chemistry is something that is impossible to fake and I worried when she pitched the idea to me that we’d struggle to figure that out. I don’t want to make it sound easy (the effort it takes to put on 30 minutes of content once a week is almost exponentially more than I expected) but we are two environmental enthusiasts that enjoy having a conversation about almost anything so it just works.

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 10: Reclaiming Our Environmental Imagination (NEPA at 50 and beyond)

During the decade of the 1960’s and 1970’s, there were many literary figures writing of the simplicity, the beauty, and the spiritual depth of Nature, giving us vivid imagery that represented our emotional landscape.  For example, Theodore Roethke’s The Far Field that included the wonderful “North American Sequence,” was published in 1964 and instantly won the National Book Award for that year.  Mary Oliver, one of the finest nature poets to have ever lived (Oliver passed away in January 2019), published American Primitive in 1978 to much literary acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 9: Reclaiming Our Environmental Imagination (from Thoreau to NEPA)

In the mid-19th century, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” This thought marked the beginning of this country’s literary American Renaissance and it became the cornerstone of America’s environmental consciousness. America’s heritage is rich in its regard to the environment. We all associate Thoreau with Walden Pond, and the year spent in a small cabin in the woods near the pond shore. Those of us who have visited Concord, Massachusetts know that Walden Pond is only about a mile from downtown Concord. We also know that about every other day Thoreau walked into town to get provisions, call on friends, or have dinner with his parents. But the words he wrote while living at Walden Pond have inspired us all. Thoreau was one of the first writers to describe his experience with Nature; to experience its beauty, its strength, and the wisdom that comes to you in moments of quiet reflection.

Read More

Leadership Blog Part 8: Living Ethically

One of the human attributes that I absolutely believe in is a code of ethics or standard by which to live – professionally and personally. NAEP expects environmental professionals to live by their “Code of Ethics and Standards for Practice for Environmental Professionals.” As an organization IdAEP, the Idaho Chapter of NAEP, adopted this code of ethics and standards and, consequently, we have the same expectation for our chapter members. 

Read More

NAEP Comments on CEQ Proposed Revisions to NEPA Regulations

On March 10, 2020, NAEP submitted comments to the Council on Environmental Quality on CEQ’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking revising its regulations for implementing the procedural requirements of NEPA. The proposed rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2020, and the comment period closed on March 10. These comments include contributions from several NAEP members and were discussed during the February 19 meeting of the NEPA Practice.

Read NAEP's Comments
Read the Proposed Rulemaking

Leadership Blog Part 7: Environmental Professional Values

What does the term “Environmental Professional” mean to you? I recently met a person actively engaged in urban planning, green activism, and urban forestry in a government role that didn’t consider himself an environmental professional. This got me thinking, is being an environmental professional determined by a certification, a certain type of job, or a mindset? 

Read More

2018 Annual NEPA Report Available

The National Association of Environmental Professionals' (NAEP's) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Practice is pleased to present our eleventh NEPA Annual Report. This report contains summaries of NEPA developments during 2018 as well as the NEPA Practice’s efforts for the past year. This annual report is prepared and published through the initiative and volunteer efforts of members of the NAEP’s NEPA Practice.

Learn More

Leadership Blog Part 6: The Value of Volunteering and Leadership

Our life together as environmental professionals is certainly a given. There are, from the onset, common bonds because of the professional work that we do. As we grow in our careers we realize the importance of giving our volunteer time to an association we align with and believe in. For most of us that association is NAEP. The reward is more than volunteer positions standing out on our resume, more than showing commitment to our respective environmental field. For those of us that belong to NAEP and/or a NAEP Chapter, we know that our NAEP friends, especially those that take on volunteer and leadership positions, hold for one another an inexplicable, sometimes unexplainable, caring for each other. It’s a caring that transcends our professionalism, our commitment to NAEP and the environmental professions. Below are what I call value statements that hopefully bring meaning to the intent and spirit of getting involved and staying involved in NAEP and its Chapters:

Read More