Continuous Improvement
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To protect and restore an ecosystem we must use the resources we have as creatively, effectively, and efficiently as possible. Continuous improvement is a cross-agency and staff-led effort to improve our natural resource management by increasing dialog and collaboration between local teams and state/federal program managers.
What Is A Natural Resource Management SystemThrough interviews and discussions we have identified three collaborative systems that shape our ecosystem. Planning and Funding' systems distribute state and federal resources among local teams to do work on the ground. Regulation and Mitigation systems restrain private behaviors to prevent damage to common resources. Monitoring and Learning systems make observations that help us understand the state of our resources and be able to predict the effects of our actions. If you are standing in a watershed, these systems work in combination to deliver public value. If they are coherent and well coordinated they provide service well. To an outsiders, the diversity of agencies, programs, processes and staffing is stunningly complicated, and sometimes incoherent. Continuous improvement is a vision for how we can accelerate the evolution of these systems so they provide more benefits, more quickly, so we can protect and restore our ecosystems. The Planning and Funding System - Our initial effort is focused on the planning an funding system, where state and federal resources are allocated to local teams to do the on-the-ground work of ecosystem recovery. We believe that this system can guide evolution, because on-the-ground is where ecosystem recovery actually happens. Our systems must be designed to perform on the ground. The planning and funding system has the flexibility to lead improvement innovation in all other systems. Project InitiationOur effort is being developed in close coordination with the Align - Washington Ecosystem Grant Coordination Workgroup and Floodplains by Design programs. It continues with sanction from the Puget Sound Partnership's Ecosystem Coordination Board.
Improvement NetworkTo enable continuous improvement, we suspect there are five different elements that we need so we can listen and collaborate and evolve:
Ongoing Improvement Projects
Catalog of Supporting MaterialsThe following materials summarize the resources and ideas used to develop the project to date:
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