Senate Budget and Taxation
Committee
Education, Business and Administration
Subcommittee
House Appropriations Committee
Education and Economic Development
Subcommittee
University of Maryland
FY 2008 Operating Budget
Testimony by
Donald F.
Boesch, President
I am privileged once again to present for
the General Assembly's consideration the Operating Budget request for the
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. In this written testimony I briefly discuss
the Center’s efforts in helping
This is the 17th Session in which
I have represented the Center’s budget request before your subcommittee and I
have greatly appreciated your interest in and support of the Center’s mission
to conduct a comprehensive program of research, advisory services and education
in environmental science—to develop a predictive ecology for
We have presented you with a preview copy of
the Center’s 2006 Annual Report, so I will not spend time reviewing our
activities and accomplishments, rather I want to direct our attention forward
to look at the role I believe UMCES can and should play in
Meeting
Maryland’s Needs
The Grand Challenge
As we find ourselves
continuing to work on long-standing environmental and natural resource
problems, such as noncompliant air quality, contaminated harbor sediments, or
reducing the harvest pressure on blue crabs,
UMCES scientists are at the
very forefront in improving our ability to objectively and clearly answer the
question: “how is the Bay doing?” This is especially important in light of
recent criticisms from the U. S. Government Accountability Office and federal
inspectors general that found the Chesapeake
Bay Program deficient in accounting for outcomes. And, it will be essential as Governor
O’Malley implements his BayStat concept.
With 2010 deadlines looming, my colleagues are also contributing to the
identification of the most cost-effective measures to close the gap in meeting
nutrient and sediment reduction goals.
So that we can achieve even
smarter growth, UMCES scientists are furthering our knowledge of how development
affects the health and function of our streams so that we can reduce the impact
of development and effectively restore degraded streams. We are developing and applying our understanding
of how the important role of forests as habitats can be maintained in the face
of their loss and fragmentation. And, we
are assessing the full costs of development, including those due to increased
traffic and off-site development, on water quality and the achievement of our
Bay Tributary Strategy Goals.
As you know, public understanding and
concern about global warming have dramatically increased as the scientific consensus
becomes even stronger that we are already on a trajectory of warmer
temperatures, more intense rainfall, rising seas and, quite possibly, more intense
tropical storms. UMCES scientists are
working hard to understand the consequences to
Seamless Scientific Discovery, Integration and
Application
A
distinguishing feature of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental
Science is its combination of cutting-edge research, integration of complex
information from many disciplines, and application of the resulting knowledge
and information to the betterment of society and the environment that sustains
it. Our clients, reviewers and
competitors tell us that few, if any, comparable institutions in the
I
will offer three examples just to illustrate.
The Center’s work in restoring native oysters has
been highlighted in the news of late. We
are combining research on genetics, disease, nutrition, the oyster’s role as a
filter and habitat, water currents that transport their larvae, and economic
cost-effectiveness to improve our chances of success in rebuilding populations
of this mollusc, for which our bay was named.
Because of our investment in culture facilities at our Horn Point
Laboratory, we have been able to improve the efficiency and robustness of
spawning and larval rearing that has allowed the rapid increase in disease-free
oyster spat. These spat are being
deployed to restore oyster reefs in many parts of the Bay. Last year, the Oyster Recovery Partnership was able
to plant, as the DLS analysis notes, some 350 million of these spat, affixed to
oyster shells to enhance their survival.
We have worked with the Department of Natural Resources to alleviate a
bottleneck—the limited facilities in which to allow the larvae to “set” by
attaching to shells—by designing a large setting facility at our pier at Horn
Point, on the Choptank River. Once
completed, this will allow our spat-on-shell production to grow as much as six
fold to 1 to 2 billion per year.
This increased capacity is an essential component of
the State’s native oyster restoration program.
The proposed Oyster Restoration Act included in the Governor’s
legislative package would create a task force to design that program and work
toward more effective management of the native oyster.
As you heard
in his State
of the State address, Governor O’Malley is moving forward to the rapid
deployment of BayStat, an application of performance management and measurement
to all of our various Bay restoration efforts.
UMCES is building on its years of experience in understanding the
functioning and dynamics of the
Through a
partnership with the federal agencies called the Chesapeake
Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Study Unit, UMCES is assessing the biodiversity
of and threats to the extensive holdings of the National Park Service in the
National Capital Region. We have looked
at everything from plants to bats and are integrating this information in ways
that are useful to Park Service managers.
This has been so successful that we have been asked to apply these
communication tools to park holdings throughout the country. In addition, we are working with the Park
Service to train and help retrain
Innovative Graduate Education
As I always try to remind
you, UMCES also plays a major role in teaching at a variety of levels. In particular, we host over 100 masters and
doctoral students working on graduate degrees at several USM campuses. Most of our students are enrolled in the Graduate Program in
Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences (MEES)—the largest and most
successful multi-institutional graduate program in the System. Currently, UMCES faculty members are leading
efforts to modernize the MEES Program so that we can ensure that our students
are trained to deal with emerging environmental issues that they will face once
they graduate. In addition, we are
expanding our efforts to offer graduate-level training activities for
environmental professionals already in the workforce and are initiating a
certificate program in Ecosystem Restoration Science.
The Operating Budget
Request
Mandatory Costs
We are pleased and thankful
that the Governor’s Allowance includes funds to meet our mandatory costs,
including salary adjustments for merit, increased costs for health and
retirement benefits, inflation for utility costs, project management fees and
facilities renewal. While most of the
potential cost containment options identified for the University System of
Maryland by the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) do not affect UMCES, a
requirement to transfer an additional $9.3 million to the fund balance would
essentially negate the resources provided to meet the mandatory cost increases. I urge the subcommittee to consider
Chancellor Kirwan’s reasoning as to why such a fund balance requirement is not
needed and would be very detrimental at this time.
A
The
largest component of the funding increase for UMCES will go to debt service for
a new Chesapeake
Bay Research Vessel. Here’s a brief
background on this important effort.
The
Center has been trying for years to acquire a new research vessel to replace its
aging vessel, the R/V Aquarius. Specially designed vessels are increasingly
required for cutting-edge research and monitoring and, therefore, for the Bay
scientific community to be competitive on a national scale. Onboard acoustic devices that continually
profile currents, sophisticated underway sensors of surface water properties
and biota, and quiet engines that allow sonar surveys of fish are becoming
standard requirements. Suitable onboard
laboratories with unvarying electrical power and clean conditions are required
for sensitive, real-time analyses.
Special booms and winches are required to successfully deploy and
retrieve instrument packages and autonomous underwater vehicles. The interdisciplinary nature of modern
estuarine science requires that teams of scientists, e.g. fishery biologists,
plankton experts, and physicists, are out making measurements at the same time
and place and have proper space to work and, frequently, stay aboard the
vessel.
These days, a research vessel is not just a platform,
but is itself becoming a scientific instrument.
What is needed then is a next-generation coastal research vessel
appropriate to the
The Center is undertaking the design and construction of a
new research vessel of approximately 80 ft in overall length that can be
operated by two crew members (thus reducing a major operating cost). It
will have: at least 125 sq ft of
laboratory space; onboard computers and integrated data logging systems;
built-in sensors and acoustic transducers for continuous measurements while
underway; electronic winches with hard-wire connections to all science spaces;
low stack emissions and acoustically quiet operations; the ability to place on
deck a small “science van” (e.g. for a clean laboratory); and a stern A-frame with
the capacity of launching and retrieving data buoys and other equipment
weighing up to 10,000 pounds. It will
have bunks to accommodate four scientists for up to five days, be capable of
carrying 40 day passengers (e.g. students on field trips), and meet or exceed all
applicable safety standards.
UMCES has engaged a marine architect
experienced in research vessel design, to develop the conceptual design of the
vessel and supervise construction. Bids
for a design/build contract are expected in March 2007, with construction to
begin soon thereafter. The construction
is being financed under
The Department of Legislative Services Analysis
The DLS analysis highlights
one major trend and presents three recommendations to which I would like to
respond.
The major trend concerns the
fact that the number of large grant awards was below the MFR goal and at a five
year low. First, we set an ambitious
goal that we will be challenged to achieve in any case. Secondly, a number of factors underlie the
drop in large awards. This includes the
tightening of federal budgets for competitive research programs in
environmental science because of Bush Administration priorities, excessive
earmarking of appropriations that have decreased the competitive funding pool, increasing
proposal pressure, and a transition within the UMCES faculty ranks to more
junior faculty members who have filled vacancies from departing or retiring
senior faculty members. In our
experience it takes two to three years for even highly successful junior
faculty members to attract significant external research funding.
As I mentioned earlier the
Oyster Cultivation Facilities at Horn Point is being designed to dramatically
increase our capacity to produce spat-on-shell for use in the State’s native
oyster restoration program. We will soon
be ready to go to construction, but the project has been delayed for two years
in the Capital Improvement Program.
Recognizing the key role this facility must play, Speaker Busch and the
Governor’s Office are now searching for ways that this can be included in the
FY 2008 Capital Budget. So, I would urge
your deferral of any decision to reduce the $117,500 in operating funds until
that matter is resolved later in the session.
I urge you not to include
the language recommended that would require UMCES to direct 50% of indirect
cost recoveries from new research grants to pay debt service on the State Master
Lease Program for the research vessel. A
precise level of grants related directly to the new vessel would be next to
impossible to ascertain and these indirect cost recoveries are required to meet
the real operational costs incurred in supporting the research at our laboratories.
I also have concerns about recommended
language restricting the appropriation for no other purpose than the repayment
of the master lease. UMCES will incur
additional expenses associated with the operation and mooring of the new
research vessel. In the event the total
appropriation was not needed to repay the master lease, UMCES intends to use
the limited balance to support berthing costs at the Chesapeake Biological
Laboratory.
Audit Findings
When an agency has many
audit findings, including repeat findings, the DLS analysis and the agency response
receives prominent attention. Little is
said about a clean audit. In our
recently completed Legislative Audit there was one minor finding which has been
easily addressed and no repeat findings.
The Center prides itself in its record of effective management reflected
in this audit report. I have commended
the UMCES staff members that work so diligently to successfully meet the
challenge of maintaining appropriate controls and separation of duties when
there is little or no redundancy in staffing.