NOS Assistant Administrator Weekly Update

This week, I’ve asked Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management Paul Scholz to share some information about NOAA’s efforts to support workforce well-being. Before I turn over the pen, I have some updates and a few reminders I want to share with you.

I am attending the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, or IOC, Executive Council meeting in Paris, France, this week. The IOC promotes international cooperation and coordinates research and capacity-building programs to better understand and manage ocean and coastal resources. This week’s sessions will focus on the work accomplished since the 2023 IOC Assembly meeting, as well as high-level reports and budget planning.

As outlined by our NOS Strategic Plan, equity principles underpin our values and our mission, guiding our actions today and into the future. In line with our ongoing commitment to fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, or DEIA, within NOS, we have created a comprehensive video tutorial to guide you on accessing the DEIA resources available on our NOS For Employees intranet site. The tutorial will help you easily navigate the site and make the most of our valuable DEIA webpages and materials, including DEIA in Action, EEO Policies and Resources, and DEIA Training. I encourage you to watch the video and familiarize yourself with these resources, as understanding and utilizing them will help us continue to create an inclusive and supportive workplace for everyone.

I would also like to remind you to take a few minutes to complete our anonymous survey about our internal communications products. Your input is crucial in helping us tailor and improve our communications to better meet your needs. We value your thoughts, so please share them with us by July 12.

Finally, the NOS AA Weekly will be on a two-week summer break and will return on July 18. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day next Thursday!

Steady as we go,

— Nicole

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Greetings Colleagues:

Over the past two years, NOAA has taken proactive steps to resolve the challenges facing our employees. We know that NOAA's mission is more critical than ever and continues to expand. Our priority remains to support a workforce that feels balanced, valued, proud, engaged with one another, and safe at work. Our vision is to reimagine NOAA’s workplaces as engines of well-being. To realize this goal, the NOAA Executive Panel created “NOAA Employee eXperience Transformation,” or “NEXT,” an initiative to support worker wellness and the employee experience using the five essentials from the Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being as our guide. NEXT is built on the foundation of empowering the employee’s voice and increasing equity across NOAA, and I am excited to share our progress with you.

NEXT has three subcommittees that are developing implementation plans for improving the employee experience. The first group will focus on plans for enhancing employee wellness. Working with our partners, we conducted small group listening sessions to understand employees’ overall work experience and the root causes of burnout, which have provided the basis for developing pathways for improvements. This effort will provide the raw material for employee experience journey maps, a tool that highlights moments that matter along the route to improving the employee experience. The second subcommittee is directed toward policies and events. So far, NEXT has rolled out NOAA’s Wellness@Work Program, which allows one hour of administrative leave per week to be taken — up to 40 hours per year — for wellness activities. NEXT is also producing three “Take a Stand” events; these programs are for employees to take a step back from their routine work and take a stand on important topics for themselves and for our NOAA family. The next Take a Stand event is coming up sometime in July and will be announced shortly. The last subcommittee addresses governance. We established a NEXT Executive Committee and identified goals and objectives that will define our future as an agency. The goals and objectives are also a framework that will support the enterprise’s multiyear strategic culture plan, which will be developed in the near future and shaped by the listening sessions. With Nicole’s support, I volunteered to serve on the NEXT Executive Committee and chair the Employee Wellness Subcommittee to keep pushing these efforts forward and ensure the wellness of the NOS workforce will be enhanced.

In concert with NEXT, NOS has prioritized health and wellness by implementing our own efforts, such as hiring an NOS behavioral health and wellness officer, CDR George Mitzner, Ph.D., ABPP, who offers confidential wellness consultations to employees, outreach and education to program offices, and cutting-edge behavioral health and wellness strategies and resources for employees on our intranet. In alignment with NOS’s commitment to fostering a psychologically safe workplace, the NOS DEIA Program, together with its Behavioral Health and Wellness Program, recently provided multiple sessions of psychological safety training for supervisors and non-supervisors. In July, the NOS DEIA Program will be hosting training to enhance wellness and connections while working remotely. The NOS Training and Events Calendar contains more information about these and related NOAA events.

I am very optimistic and energized about NOAA’s and NOS’s future! I hope that this provides you, our employees, with a picture of the steps we’re taking to build — based on your input — a healthy work future and improved NOAA culture. I encourage you all to look into these programs and resources, try each of these options, and find the best combination to maximize your personal well-being.

Onward and upward,

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Program Office Highlights

OCS performs final bridge response surveys

OFFICE OF COAST SURVEY (OCS)

The OCS navigation response team surveyed the areas around the former Francis Scott Key Bridge crossing where the remaining bridge parts were removed. The final survey identified bridge debris obstructions still on the nautical chart outside the main channel, providing 100% survey coverage around the former bridge crossing. Once the data is assessed and processed, it will be fully applied to the electronic navigational charts. The United States Coast Pilot 3® paragraphs describing the area are now updated with new information regarding the former bridge crossing. These developments were an important milestone in OCS’s response to the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore.

Contact: Chief.nrb.ocs@noaa.gov

ONMS highlighted at Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture

OFFICE OF NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES (ONMS)

ONMS staff from different sites, the region, and headquarters participated in the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture — the world's largest celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders — held in Honolulu, Hawaii. The team staffed an outreach booth at the NOAA-led Ocean Forum events, providing visitors the opportunity to take virtual reality tours of national marine sanctuaries in the Pacific. ONMS staff also led presentations about the Science On a Sphere® exhibit and premiered the new short film “Tala O Le Tautai,” a Samoan phrase meaning “Samoan Fishing Stories,” for the thousands of attendees.

Contact: Gene.Brighouse@noaa.gov

Wind station contributes to reopening of Baltimore Harbor

CENTER FOR OPERATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (CO-OPS)

CO-OPS installed a temporary wind sensor on the uncollapsed portion of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key, or FSK, Bridge. The station, Hawkins Point Wind, was requested by the Maryland Port Administration, a NOAA partner in the Chesapeake Bay North Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System, to ensure safe navigation after the bridge collapse and during ongoing salvage operations and the port’s reopening. The new station is installed on the center barrier, 12 feet from the edge of the western span of the collapsed FSK Bridge. The temporary station ensures continued dissemination of regional meteorological data in the harbor and temporarily replaces a high-elevation wind sensor lost during the bridge collapse.

Contact: PORTS_program@noaa.gov

Inspiring students to embrace their culture through science

NATIONAL CENTERS FOR COASTAL OCEAN SCIENCE (NCCOS)

The NCCOS Phytoplankton Monitoring Network team has joined a science program and partnership that engages with commercial fishermen and aquaculture farmers from South Carolina’s Gullah Geechee community — descendants of West African tribal members who were enslaved on Southeast coastal plantations. The goal of this program is to teach local school children traditional fishing techniques, build skills for monitoring their coastal waters for excessive nutrients, and identify harmful algae that can produce dangerous toxins that contaminate seafood. Student involvement will help inspire interest in hands-on science and preserve their community’s fishing culture. NCCOS scientists have participated in student recruiting events, joined students and fishermen in touring aquaculture sites, and led an interactive tour of NOAA’s Hollings Marine Laboratory. Scientists and community members anticipate this educational experience will be a regular occurrence for students.

Contact: Nia.Rene@noaa.gov

Beta release of modernized reference system

NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY (NGS)

NGS will begin using its Beta Product Release Site to promote public testing of modernized National Spatial Reference System products and services. A new web design and up-to-date content makes the beta site easier to find and promote. This design change also allows for better cross-promotion of items found in recent NGS News Bulletins, such as new online tools for land surveyors and short outreach videos in Spanish.

Contact: Nina.Garfield@noaa.gov

Pollution Assessment and Restoration in Your State updates

OFFICE OF RESPONSE AND RESTORATION (OR&R)

The NOAA Pollution Assessment and Restoration in Your State ArcGIS StoryMap, a tool that breaks down pollution settlements’ progress in each state and territory, was updated. The story map showcases NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program, or DARRP, which is an interdisciplinary program that holds polluters accountable through pollution settlements for oil spills; hazardous waste, or Superfund, sites; and ship groundings. The tool enables users to see the pollution incidents in their states, how those incidents are being assessed for damages, the funds that have been recovered from responsible parties to date, and the restoration that is being implemented. The case map allows users to pinpoint pollution event locations where DARRP is actively involved, with further details available on dedicated case pages. Since the tool’s inception in 2021, an additional $200 million has been recovered from pollution settlements for restoration, bringing the total to over $10.7 billion.

Contact: Nicole.Matthesen@noaa.gov