the EPA to address many of the first year priorities agreed upon 
at EPA's recent San Francisco Bay/Delta Estuarine Management 
Project meeting: identify, locate, coordinate, and disseminate 
existing information on the estuary; identify additional data 
needs; develop quality assurance and quality control measures; 
initiate long-term monitoring; and develop public participation 
and education programs focused on policy goals. 
Scientist, managers, dischargers, and the public must reach 
consensus on this management plan and on the scientific 
questions that need to be answered before the program is 
undertaken. From our perspective, it is clear that the systems 
approach described here can play an important role in organizing 
and understanding this highly complex estuarine system. We are 
hopeful that the EPA and AHI will use it as part of the planning 
and management process. 
Acknowledgements 
This research was supported by grants from the San Francisco 
Foundation/Buck Trust. The authors gratefully acknowledge the 
technical assistance of Douglas Spicher. 
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