Figure 2. Relation of perturbation type with modes of action. 



to society's needs. This chapter will focus only tangentially on the awareness prob- 

 lems and the documentation of damage. One of the chief developmental needs 

 should be the production of prediction models and regional management protocols. 

 Therefore, this chapter will address these two important areas. 



ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS 



As a result of the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 

 1972, environmental impact statements have emerged as very significant documents 

 in the attempt to reduce deleterious environmental effects resulting from societal 

 activities. These documents are intended to establish the condition of ecosystems. 

 Both governmental and non-governmental institutions have allocated very substan- 

 tial resources for both preparation and evaluation of often lengthy impact state- 

 ments. The value of this rather monumental effort should be examined in terms of 

 both the original objectives and the ability to furnish a baseline against which future 

 conditions can be compared. 



NEPA originally was hailed by many environmentalists as a major step in the 

 effort to improve environmental protection. But after d few years, considerable 

 concern over the effectiveness of this effort surfaced in the corhmunity of ecologists. 

 A number of these concerns were explicitly addressed in the symposium sponsored 

 by the Council for Environmental Quality at the Ecological Society of America's 

 annual meeting with the American Institute of Biological Sciences in New Orleans, 

 Louisiana in 1976.^ Presumably, the symposium proceedings will someday appear 

 and be available for examination. 



Among the concerns expressed was that a significant fraction of time has been 

 spent merely reading environmental impact statements^-' (not to mention that 

 financial and professional resources were expended in gathering the data). These 

 environmental impact statements have not served the purpose intended, and there is 

 disagreement about whether they can ever do so. Major improvements are needed in 

 the quality of impact statements if they are to serve the purpose intended.**''^ Most of 

 the environmental impact statements consist primarily of long lists of species either 



223 



