undergoing constant refinement because the existing classification and inventory 

 systems were largely functional, i.e., inventories for timber, soil. The need today is for 

 ecological systems that portray the data in a manner that allows the decision-maker 

 to look at interactions and trade-offs between and among functional systems. This 

 need has been fostered by numerous acts that require an inventory and assessment of 

 all the resources within the scope of the agency's mandate. Among these laws are the 

 RCA, RPA, NFM A, FLPM A, the Coastal Zone Management Act of I972(CZM A), 

 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Earlier 

 examples include the Sikes Act, Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, and the Fish and 

 Wildlife Coordination Act of 1934. 



Unfortunately, the basic research and subsequent applications were not in place to 

 implement the mandated programs. The flurry of activity that followed the legislative 

 mandates resulted in a fragmented effort by each agency to comply, a situation 

 reflected by the myriad acronyms for classification and inventory methodologies that 

 appear throughout this monograph. In fact, it is a generally accepted premise that no 

 one system is likely to prove suitable for all purposes for all agencies. '" However, a 

 conscious effort must be made to assure that the various methodologies generate data 

 that are compatible. Initially, it appeared that jurisdictional battles would hamper 

 the development of a compatible classification and inventory system. Indeed, there 

 were large discrepancies in the acreages of timber and rangeland types reported in the 

 1980 assessments conducted under the RPA and the RCA. To their credit, the FS, 

 BLM, SCS, FWS and the USGS have joined in a cooperative effort to help assure the 

 compatibility of their data. 



Research should be aimed at the development and implementation of classification 

 schemes and inventory techniques that are both applicable and suitable to a variety of 

 species and habitats. Such research is a first step in providing the decision-makers 

 and the public with the information necessary to make ecologically sound decisions 

 with regard to the management of fish and wildlife and the habitats that support 

 them. We need to know, at the local, regional and national levels, what is there, how 

 much of it exists, and where it is located. To do this, a standardized system generating 

 data which can be integrated into a central data base must be in place. Then we can 

 begin to make scientifically sound trade-offs involving the relationships between 

 species and between species and other resources. 



METHODS OF APPROACH 



It is apparent that the traditional, functional system type of inventory will not 

 provide the kind of information required by decision-makers to comply with the law. 

 Greater emphasis will likely be placed on: I . research on the life history of a species; 2. 

 interactions between and among species; 3. interactions between species and abiotic 

 environmental factors; 4. habitat requirements; 5. revised economic methodologies 

 for cost benefit analyses; and 6. sociological-psychological considerations. 



The FWS has discussed four ways to assess impacts on fish and wildlife resources 

 framed around four indicators of public interest: species-populations, biological 

 (ecological) integrity, environmental values, and habitat. Examination of impacts on 

 species-populations would follow the autecological approach, and be concerned with 

 the species-population in question. Those assessments involving the ecological 

 approach would be concerned with an integrated ecosystem or synecological 

 approach. 



According to NEPA, equal consideration must be given to economic and 

 environmental values associated with a project. Such a treatment would be classed 

 under the "environmental values" approach. The habitat approach would consider 

 the impacts on that component of the ecosystem necessary to support the organism(s) 

 in question." The methodologies presented within this monograph fall into one or 

 more of the four categories. 



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