Research participant opening for recent graduates (within five years) to come gain experience and build connections at EPA. Great colleagues and interesting subject matter. The participant will develop a main research project with their mentor(s) which will be focused on Clean Water Act section 404, regulation of discharge of dredge and fill material, specifically on compensatory mitigation (replacement aquatic resources), four example research projects are listed below. Research may also focus on permitting, program tracking and analysis.
1. Compensatory Mitigation Review: This research will explore the intersection of past and proposed 404 Program permit actions and the tools used to facilitate their efficient and effective review. Compensatory mitigation projects will be evaluated to identify the best practices and where cross training is needed to achieve optimal environmental outcomes and programmatic efficiencies.
2. Compensatory Mitigation Projects Under Multiple Authorities: Compensatory mitigation projects can be developed to offset impacts under the Clean Water Act Section 404 in addition to other federal, state and local requirements. The participant will research the practices of existing joint compensation projects including how compensatory mitigation performance is tracked and compensation credits are accounted for across authorities.
3. Wetland and Stream Compensatory Mitigation Monitoring and Performance Standards: Wetland and stream mitigation sites success is usually measured in terms of accessing compliance with specific performance standards. Many different measures, protocols, and indexes exist to monitor sites across the country. The goal of this research is to create a compendium of approved standard approaches to monitor and evaluate mitigation sites so that the results are nationally comparable to each other and other reference datasets.
4. Long Term Approach to Compensatory Mitigation Evaluation: This research will aim to help 404 Program partners understand and experiment with approaches for addressing common questions and issues posed to compensatory mitigation programs and understand opportunities for collaboration across programs and agencies at the state and federal level.
Closing 10/25/21
More information and to apply: https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/EPA-OW-OWOW-2021-04