Soil microbiologist Dave Bezdicek is retiring after 31 years of research and teaching at Washington State University this September. Throughout his career Dave’s research programs have made significant contributions that are helping to protect water quality in the Pacific Northwest. Originally hired by WSU in 1973 to work on animal waste management he has worked with biosolids from municipal wastes, sustainable agriculture, soil quality, and cropping systems to reduce erosion from farmlands. All of these research areas provide benefits which protect water quality. Most people know Dave for his work with soil quality. In large part soil quality is enhanced by protecting and enhancing soil organic matter in soils. Dave says “soil organic matter is the key to better water quality – the higher the soil organic matter content the less likely soils will move off fields into streams.” Dr. Bedzicek was the first director of WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources. As director he promoted: (1) research and education on improved soil quality, (2) better communication between agriculture and urban stakeholders, (3) use of alternative crops, and (4) the acceptance of sustainability as part of WSU’s institutional goals. He was also responsible for the establishment of WSU’s composting facility. A key component of sustainability is the protection of soil, water, air, and mineral resources. Dave has been active in the tristate Solutions To Environmental and Economic Problems (STEEP) program for over 20 years. For the past five years Dr. Bezdicek has administered and served as principal investigator for WSU on the USDA-STEEP program. As part of his program in this effort to protect water quality he has researched reduced tillage, direct seeding, nitrogen fixation, and cropping sequence issues. The STEEP program has been particularly effective at improving water quality because it is a regional, applied, grower-driven program. Dave received the outstanding research award in WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS) in 2004. He is known for his research efforts on an international level. He is recognized by his peers as a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Charlotte Clausing: 360-392-4319 cclausing@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration; and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	Dr. Bezdicek has also been active in WSU's teaching program. He established courses in soil microbiology and composting. A unique aspect of his microbiology course is that he incorporates macro fauna and macro flora into soil ecosystems education along with the microbes. Dave led the effort to place multi-media equipment into classrooms in WSU's Crop and Soil Department. Dr. Bezdicek is the author of over 55 refereed journal publications, 32 book chapters, and 18 proceedings. Over 25 graduate students have completed advanced degrees in Soil Science under his direction. His pioneering leadership in documenting and understanding the mysteries of the interactions of plants with microbes in the soil will be sorely missed at WSU and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No 2008-51130-4734.

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