Role

Defining Our Role

Reclamation provides a service to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. This role encompasses a great many technical activities (e.g., ensuring that dams are safe, exploring new technologies for groundwater recharge) and many ways of doing business (e.g., working formally and informally with partners, other agencies, and water users). See Reclamation's home page and mission.

This mission is the foundation that determines Reclamation's potential roles , such as:

• Partners working with other stakeholders to solve complex, interconnected problems
• Participants bringing something to the table to help define and resolve problems
• Facilitators promoting both formal and informal communication among diverse participants
• Leaders with a broad perspective
• Technical experts providing needed expertise
• Compliance experts, ensuring actions adhere to Federal regulations

Determining Our Role

There may not be a Federal role. Ask the following questions to determine our responsibility and develop thresholds to determine the significance of your role and involvement.

 
• Is there a significant problem to be solved or opportunity to prevent problems
• Is it a matter of national, regional, and local interest?
• Does it relate to managing water and related resources?
• Is it tied to something we've done in the past?
• Is there a need for Federal/Reclamation involvement?
• Can this be handled on a local level effectively and completely without Federal funding and involvement?
• Do they require our expertise? Is there a Federal benefit to provide this expertise?
• Are we able to offer technical assistance and expertise?

These clues by themselves do not mandate a Federal role, but they may indicate the need for participation. Federal involvement can range from support, facilitation, and technical help to taking the lead on a project. This role must be considered on a case-by-case basis. You will need to be flexible enough to change your involvement as policy changes and you know more about the issues.

Reclamation involvement means using national funds and other national resources (including federally paid employees) to contribute to the economic and environmental health of the United States. Reclamation's expertise should be responsive to local, state, and Native American concerns, but our primary purpose must never be forgotten. If we determine that there is no Federal role, we need to bow out of the process.

Writing out your role in a particular program will:

 
• Help define your reason for being involved,
• Focus on what the program is to accomplish
• Clarify your role with the decisionmakers and other participants
• Avoid false assumptions and mythconceptions about your role
• Keep new players informed

The briefer and more concise, the better. Be willing to revise this if the situation changes.

Go On

(What we're here for...)

Executive Summary Tour ------>Defining Success

Handyman's Tour Documentation <----->Responsibility

Dragon Tour Budget Process -------> Policy