Rivers Center project reconsidered
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The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's 10-member board might get the update it has been seeking about the little-known Three Rivers Ecological Research Center established two years ago to manage Western Pennsylvania waterways.
Until the board replaces Doug Austen as executive director -- he has been given six months notice to clear out his desk -- Austen's new narrowly defined duties include more direct involvement with the center he created. The center runs on a budget of $168,000 derived from grants, federal and some state. Prior to reassigning him, commission vice-chair Bill Worobec and other board members publicly demanded an accounting of the center's accomplishments and aired concerns it wasn't achieving much.
"I'm not hearing anything and I just want to know what's going on," Worobec said, days before Austen's reassignment. "The concept of the center is very important. We have three rivers out there ... huge rivers ... and having a local site is probably very appropriate. But we just need to know where we've been, where we're going and where we are."
For the next six months, or until a new executive director is named, Austen will concentrate on getting more funding, including funding for the center, which was founded to establish partnerships to manage the rivers' future.
"I chaired the nationwide work group that wrote the national plan, but stepped away for a while," said Austen. "This [reassignment] allows me to get back on board. One of our roles is to get legislation passed that would funnel money through [public-private] ... partnerships."
Sue Thompson directs the center at an annual salary of about $70,000. Fisheries biologist Bob Venturini also is assigned to the center at a salary of about $50,000. The center rents space on the South Side. Thompson, a botanist, said she was hired for her ability to network and create partnerships with corporations and non-profits that could fund river studies, habitat improvements and other endeavors.
Austen and Thompson said the center is applying to partner with the National Fish Habitat Action Plan in a union that would be called Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership.
"It's hard to quantify what I do," said Thompson, who said she is setting up an advisory board for the center. "When you develop good working relationships with colleagues outside the agency, it's hard to quantify until push comes to shove and you need something done and you can pick up a phone."
Thompson said contact with Fish Commission board members has been minimal.
"The board has been looking at us with a fine-tooth comb from the beginning because we're different from the rest of the agency," she said. "And while it's fair for the commissioners to be asking questions, instead of asking them through reporters, they should have asked us."
First Published July 26, 2009 12:08 am
