Mark H. Parrish

1 | 2

Ability to Communicate in Writing

It’s routine for me to generate written materials for a variety circumstances – memoranda,

general business correspondence, status updates, and technical reports. Below are descriptions

of written communication that I have prepared for assessment purposes, to facilitate decision

making, and to provide technical guidance.

� National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - Environmental Assessment, 2002

This document was prepared for the US Department of Interior - Bureau of Indian

Affairs (BIA) to facilitate a federal decision concerning the transfer of Tribal land to

the federal government for the benefit of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.

The document included all narratives, illustrations, and analyses required by NEPA

and the BIA, and was organized for ease of use by Federal, tribal, affected state and

local jurisdiction stakeholders. This work was commended by BIA staff, and was

chosen to be included in the BIA’s Multi-Agency National Environmental Policy Act

training notebook as a model Environmental Assessment document.

Verifier: Mr. Herb Nelson, PE

Former US Department of Interior -BIA Midwest Region Environmental

Scientist

� Water Quality Assessment Report for Tribal Waters – Pokagon Band of Potawatomi

Indians – 2006

This document was prepared for the Tribe and the US Environmental Protection

Agency (USEPA) to describe the occurrence of Tribal waters, discuss regional and

local water quality issues and their relevance to the Tribe. It also described the

rationale for water sample collection and testing, presented the test results and

discussed the findings. Additionally, the findings were used to plan future

monitoring strategies for areas of concern to discern source of water impairments.

Once a source(s) is identified, corrective actions are proposed and implemented.

The document generated favorable remarks from EPA Region 5 Water Quality

Program Manager,

“Your water quality report was one of the better ones I have seen…”

“…I shared your (report) with some regional and national EPA water quality

folks…they want to include some of the graphs and tables in a template for

reporting”.

Subsequently, portions of my document were included in the EPA’s Clean Water Act

Section 106 Tribal Guidance document entitled, Data Assessment and Reporting

Template.

Mark H. Parrish

2 | 2

• Preparation of Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPP) – Pokagon Band of

Potawatomi Indians, various dates.

When USEPA funds are used to collect environmental data, a QAPP must be

prepared and submitted for their approval prior to any data collection activities. The

purpose of a QAPP is to ensure the collection of scientifically valid and defensible

data. Its contents convey a project’s purpose, describes applicable regulations,

outline standards, procedures and processes to be followed for sample collection,

recording field measurements, field schedules, analyses requirements, data storage,

document preparation, to name a few examples topics. The procedures and

requirements stated the in QAPP are to be followed by all persons involved in the

project.

I authored QAPPs for the following projects/programs and their funding agencies:

1. Surface water quality monitoring program - USEPA Region 5 Water Division

a. Baseline monitoring project & capacity building - 2005

b. Implementation of Clean Water Act Section 106 program - 2013

2. Screening program for lead levels in children’s’ blood - USEPA Region 5

Land & Chemicals Division -2012

3. Screening program for Radon levels in Tribal households - USEPA Region 5

Air & Radiation Division -2001

4. Investigation for the presence of chlorinated pesticides, arsenic, and lead in

soils - USEPA Region 5 Land & Chemicals Division - 2013

5. Secondary data collection for research purposes - US EPA Region 5 - 2002

“Thank you for your positive efforts in completing an excellent Quality

Assurance Project Plan”. - US EPA Region 5 QA Coordinator, Toxics

Program Section