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Law and Policy Section P.O November 25, 2015 Mr. Thomas W. Swegle, Senior Counsel US Department of JustiCe Environment & Natural ResourCes Division Law and Policy Section P.O. Box 7415, Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044-7415 Re: Final Report on Disbursements of Funds from Puget Soundkeeper AllianCe v. BNSF Railway Case #: 2:09-CV-01087-JCC Dear Mr. Swegle, Please aCCept this third and final report on the Rose Foundation’s use of funds from Puget Soundkeeper AllianCe v. BNSF Railway Company. Creating the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund: In MarCh 2012, the Rose Foundation reCeived a restitution payment of $1,500,000 from BNSF Railway Company. Under the terms of the Consent DeCree, the funds could only be used to support projeCts to improve the water quality of Puget Sound. The BNSF funds enabled the Rose Foundation to launCh a new grants program solely dediCated to benefitting Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund. To guide our outreaCh to appliCants and help analyze funding proposals, the Foundation reCruited a volunteer funding advisory board with a diverse mix of individuals who possess tremendous knowledge of Puget Sound. The funding board inCluded: • Lee Moyer: a retired kayak manufacturer and the former president of the Washington State Parks Boating Safety Committee. He is the author of Sea Kayak Navigation Simplified, a praCtiCal hands-on guide for the Coastal kayaker, and formerly served on the Seattle Shoreline Parks Improvement Fund Committee. • Scott Miller: the President of ResourCe Media, a nonprofit publiC relations firm that helps partners develop and exeCute smart CommuniCations strategies for the environment and publiC health. He was formerly a reporter who Covered the environment beat for KING TV, the NBC affiliate in Seattle. • Holly Powers: a Program OffiCer at The Russell Family Foundation, where her grant portfolios include Puget Sound Water Quality, Polluted Runoff Management, Green InfrastruCture Development and the Puyallup Watershed Initiative – a 10 year investment in the CapaCity of leaders and residents to proteCt, steward and enhanCe their watershed. She has been reCognized by the Center for Whole Communities as a Young Leader Reimagining Conservation and Completed a national fellowship program, 2042 Today, whiCh trains environmental leaders to effectively engage Communities in our rapidly Changing AmeriCan society. • Barry Wenger: the Senior Environmental Planner for the Washington State Department of Ecology Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program for 26 years from 1986 – 2012 when he retired from state serviCe. He was the lead planner working with loCal Cities and counties around the state, with an emphasis on Puget Sound, to develop Shoreline Master Program updates and amendments. In addition to his government serviCe, he has taught a multitude of land use and environmental Classes at planning ConferenCes, training sessions, universities and Colleges over the past three deCades. • Phil Wong: retired from the Environmental ProteCtion AgenCy, Region 10, Seattle, Washington after more than thirty-one years of serviCe. For the majority of his career he was responsible for enforcing environmental regulations established by the ToxiCs Release Inventory and Clean Water ACt. He has been noted for his involvement with the initial investigation and Cleanup of Gas Works Park in Seattle and reCeived a national award for implementing a remedial aCtion in TaComa’s CommenCement Bay Superfund Site. With the funding board’s help, the Foundation developed a serviCe list of more than 500 non-profit and eduCational institutions in Washington whose work Centers around Puget Sound issues. In addition to well-known larger organizations, the list inCludes numerous small Community-based organizations, and we developed a deliberate strategy to reserve a portion of the funds for these emerging grassroots organizations that are typically not reached by organized philanthropy. We then developed a Request for Proposals whiCh was sent to this list; the RFP was further rebroadCast by networks including the Puget Sound Partnership, ensuring very Complete and robust penetration throughout the entire Community of Puget Sound stakeholders. Over the past three years, we have periodiCally rebroadCasted the RFP and conducted a series of competitive grant cycles, awarding grants as large as $60,000 and as small as $250. We submitted the first report on May 28, 2013 desCribing the initial 17 grants disbursed from this fund. A second report on February 18, 2015 detailed 43 more grants awarded from the fund from June 2013 to the end of 2014. This Current report details the final 8 grants enabled by the BNSF settlement; these grants were awarded in 2015. InCluding these final eight grants, the BNSF funds enabled the Rose Foundation to award 68 grants totaling $1,380,000 to non-profit groups dediCated to proteCting Puget Sound. As an appendix, a list desCribing all 68 grants is attaChed. Fund Administration: The Foundation retained 8% to defray its expenses assoCiated with reviewing and sCreening grant appliCations, awarding and administering the grants, and to help support its annual audit and other associated non-profit overhead costs. The Rose Foundation deeply appreCiates the honor of being entrusted with these funds and the resulting opportunity to support a tremendous body of community-based environmental work to proteCt the water quality of Puget Sound. While this report doCuments the Closing expenditures from the BNSF funds, the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund Continues to reCeive additional environmental projeCt funds related to other Clean Water ACt enforCement matters, and we look forward to reporting in the future on how those further funds will be applied towards the proteCtion of Puget Sound. 2 SinCerely, Tim Little, ExeCutive DireCtor cc: David Smat, BNSF Railway Company Dava Kaitala, BNSF Railway Company John Bjorkman, K&L Gates LLP Chris Wilke, Puget Soundkeeper AllianCe Brian Knutsen, Smith & Lowney, PLLC Thomas Swegle, U.S. Department of JustiCe – Environment and Natural ResourCes Division Honorable John C. Coughenour, United States DistriCt Court, Western DistriCt of Washington 3 Grants Awarded 2015: Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Cherry Point Citizen Stewardship $10,000 The Cherry Point AquatiC Reserve is a unique nearshore aquatiC eCosystem located in the Strait of Georgia in northern Puget Sound. Containing Cobbled intertidal areas and riCh aquatiC vegetation as well as a steep gradient into deep water, the Reserve supports a high diversity of fish, yet is also a loCus for large vessel doCking. The CPAR Citizen Stewardship Committee will raise the profile of the Cherry Point AquatiC Reserve, Contribute to sCientifiC surveys whiCh help define the resourCes of the reserve, and ensure that development projeCts that affeCt the reserve are sCientifiCally sCrutinized and Carefully vetted. Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team Watershed Health and Youth $10,000 Supports a Community-based watershed education program that gives young people in the South Sound region a ChanCe to learn about eCosystem health and develop their "sense of place" within the DesChutes watershed as a direCt link to the southern reaChes of Puget Sound. WHY youth will work with DERT's SCienCe Team and study the DesChutes watershed and all of its attributes. Through monthly field trips and the Classroom, they will learn about healthy, funCtioning eCosystems and identify reCreational opportunities within the watershed to nurture a broader sense of understanding and publiC enjoyment. They will also learn about the eConomiC opportunities that their watershed provides, and how to sustain the eCosystem while enjoying the benefits of living, working and reCreating in this 51-mile river basin. Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve Citizen Fidalgo Bay Science and Stewardship $9,000 The Fidalgo Bay AquatiC Reserve includes tidal flats, slat marshes, beaChes and eel grass, and provides essential habitat for many fish and bird speCies in the north/Central portion of Puget Sound. The projeCt will elevate the profile of Fidalgo Bay and improve its water quality through engaging the publiC and ConduCting outreaCh and eduCation about life in the bay and threats to it. SpeCial topiCs will inClude Citizen sCienCe surveys of intertidal life and forage fish, and the threat of stormwater pollution. Killer Whale Tales Kids Making a Difference NOW/Whale Scouts $6,232.86 Every year, Killer Whale Tales uses storytelling and field based sCience aCtivities to inspire thousands of elementary sChools students to take an aCtive role in the Conservation of Southern Resident Killer Whales and their habitat throughout the Central Puget Sound area. In addition learning about orCas, their habitat and Conservation issues, students are taught how to analyze their families’ eCological footprint and praCtical tools that every family Can use to reduCe their contribution to stormwater pollution. Some of the grant also defrays work with another Rose Foundation grantee, Whale Scouts, to get their partiCipants into the outdoors and assist in hands-on river and salmon habitat restoration. 4 Smarter Cleanup Coalition HeyDuwamish.org $4,250 Supports a grassroots mapping tool to inform, engage, and empower Communities to take action for their environmental health by sharing ideas, photos, comments, and questions on a detailed interaCtive map of the planned 23 year long Cleanup of the Duwamish Superfund site – a heavily polluted area whiCh drains into Elliott Bay in Central
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