ORSANCO is assisting the U.S. State Department and U.S. EPA Region 5 in a two-pronged program to assist the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the Russian Oblast of Kaliningrad (flags seen below) with the development of watershed management programs. ORSANCO was asked by U.S. EPA to participate in the program because of the Commission's world-renowned reputation in watershed management.

The goals and objectives of the Great Lakes/Baltic Sea Partnership include:

Building capacity for watershed management on an international basis among the Baltic countries, in order to meet certain requirements necessary to gain entrance to the European Union.

Exchanging information between scientific communities in the US and the Baltic region through a Fellowship Program. From February - July 2000, ORSANCO hosted Dr. Violeta Vinceviciene, Associate Professor Environmental Engineering at Kaunas University, in Lithuania. Dr. Vinveviciene was introduced to a wide range of watershed management activities occurring in the U.S., and she would like to use ORSANCO as a model for international cooperation in watershed management among countries in the Baltic region.

ORSANCO is assisting environmental ministry personnel from the various countries in the Baltic region with the design and implementation of bilateral watershed management demonstration projects. These projects are intended to lay the groundwork for establishing long-term international cooperation in watershed management.