Leadership Update

By Bob Carey

Dear Floodplains by Design Partners,

We want to celebrate with you the achievement of a significant milestone in the Floodplains by Design (FbD) program. As of February 2021, Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), under the direction of Kas Guillozet (BEF’s Watershed Program Senior Director), will step into a leadership role to support the Floodplains by Design program and network.

In this capacity, BEF will assume some of the critical functions that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has performed (e.g. convening, facilitation, coalition building, and fostering regional-local collaboration) as well as apply their own expertise to strengthen and enhance the FbD network and support the evolution of the program into a sustainable effort. To that end BEF will collaboratively and transparently continue to implement the Organizational Plan and final years of the 2018 5-Year Strategy for Washington’s Floodplains. The Department of Ecology, The Nature Conservancy, the Puget Sound Partnership, and BEF, as well as the new collaborative structures put into place over the last few years such as the Strategy Group, Culture & Capacity Action Group, Funding & Policy Action Group, and the Ops Team will adaptively manage the effort based on continual learning and engagement with the network.

Between now and June of 2021, BEF will convene a working group and engage in discussions with FbD leadership and Action Groups to develop a broadly supported work plan for the next biennium. This work plan and associated budget will guide resources and direct focus over the next two years.

BEF is excited to embark on this new body of work, which connects very strongly to their mission and core values as an organization, experience in collaborative watershed management, and approach to partnership. Kas Guillozet, who will serve as overall backbone co-lead, and Robert Warren who will support partnership learning and research and monitoring. Background and information on their expertise can be found here.

As BEF grows into this new role, TNC will slowly step back – becoming a key partner, but not the principal NGO backbone leader of the FbD network. Over the next four months, TNC engagement will remain fairly consistent in terms of resources and roles (Bob – overall leadership, Steering Group and Ops Team; Heather – local-state connections and Culture & Capacity Action Group; Justin/Brittany/Kathy – lobbying/advocacy and Policy & Funding Action Group; Courtney – outreach and engagement; and other TNC staff that support FbD behind the scenes). Additionally, the consultant team – Dianne Dickerson, Bob Whitener, Jay Manning, Nancy White, and Carol MacIlroy – will continue to support both BEF and TNC through June 2021 as the new structure takes hold and there is greater clarity about what additional consultant support is necessary moving forward as a result of the work plan and budget discussions. Of course, the Department of Ecology will continue to play critical and substantive leadership roles – particularly related to the management of the FbD Grant Program.

If you have questions about this transition feel free to reach out to Bob Carey at bcarey@tnc.org or Brian Lynn at blyn461@ecy.wa.gov.  Also feel free to reach out to Kas at kguillozet@b-e-f.org or Robert at rwarren@b-e-f.org with your own greetings, hopes or concerns.