EEP: A national model
North Carolina has created a national model for wetlands mitigation through EEP, earning the designation in both 2007 and 2005 as one of the top 50 innovative new government programs in the nation.
EEP Director Bill Gilmore with the 2006 Natural Resource Agency of the Year award |
The recognition came from the prestigious Innovations in American Government Awards committee, sponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and the Council for Excellence in Government in Washington, D.C.
More than 1,000 programs entered the competition, which judges recently developed government initiatives on the basis of creativity, effectiveness in achieving tangible results, significance in addressing important problems of public concern, and promise in inspiring successful replication in other states.
In April 2005, the National Association of Environmental Professionals honored EEP with its National Environmental Excellence Award in the category of planning integration for the initiative’s Pasquotank River Local Watershed Plan, an innovative plan to offset growth, development and loss of wildlife habitat in the Pasquotank River basin. The organization honors nominees in eight categories each year in a rigorous competition.
In February 2007, EEP stood among the recipients of the highest environmental awards given annually in North Carolina with its designation as Natural Resources Agency of the Year in the 2006 Governor's Conservation Achievement Awards. The awards are sponsored jointly by the N.C. Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation and "honor individuals, governmental bodies, organizations and others who have exhibited an unwavering commitment to conservation in North Carolina."
In January 2008, an N.C.-based engineering firm in received an annual Honors Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of North Carolina for its work on a local watershed plan developed by the Ecosystem Enhancement Program. At a Raleigh awards dinner, KCI Associates of North Carolina, P.A. earned the designation for its work on Phase IV of the Stoney Creek Local Watershed Plan in Wayne County. The plan was developed by EEP Planner Rob Breeding in collaboration with community leaders, landowners and resource professionals in the county, and was designed to identify projects and management strategies to restore, enhance and protect local watershed resources. The company developed a project-implementation model that focused on targeted outreach as a means to achieve environmental-mitigation goals, and EEP supported KCI’s nomination for the award.
And in August 2005, the initiative received designation as one of the top new initiatives in state government from the national Council of State Governments. The organization crafts policy initiatives for state governments and places a premium on creativity, effectiveness, significance and transferability to other states in making its annual awards. EEP already had earned a 2003 national award for innovation from the National Association of Development Organizations, and the initiative’s creative approach contributed in 2003 to recognition of NCDOT and NCDENR by the Federal Highway Administration for outstanding environmental stewardship. EEP also has been designated by FHWA as one of 15 Exemplary Ecosystem initiatives nationwide.
Why? EEP’s mitigation program addresses environmental impacts proactively, not reactively. Funds are invested in environmental protection ahead of the date the impact will occur. This basic foundation of the EEP allows North Carolina to address the need for economic development while simultaneously protecting and enhancing the environment, an issue germane to every state in the nation.
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