PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 



The purpose of this study is to provide land managers with information 

 about oil and gas activities, their effects on the environment, and successful 

 or proposed methods of alleviating or eliminating their undesirable effects in 

 order to protect fish and wildlife resources and their supporting coastal 

 habitats. The project objectives are as follows: 



1. To describe and discuss the activities related to oil and gas development 

 that are relevant to the objectives of this study 



2. To determine catastrophic and chronic impacts upon the biota of the activi- 

 ties related to oil and gas resources exploitation 



3. To identify, discuss, and evaluate any and all procedures or safeguards, 

 whether purposeful or inadvertent, that protect or enhance fish and wild- 

 life resources and their support systems during oil and gas development 

 and production 



4. To develop standards of operation and safeguards for protecting or miti- 

 gating impacts on fish and wildlife resources and their support systems 

 on refuges and similar blocks of publicly owned lands during all phases 

 of exploitation of oil and gas resources 



PROJECT METHODOLOGY 



The project was divided into six tasks, and each task was divided into 

 subtasks. Each subtask was defined by a discrete series of steps and had an 

 output that was either used in another task or was placed in the final report. 



Task 1, Case Study Sites 



Subtask 1:1, criteria and selection of study sites 



There were 21 State 

 to six Federal and two 



and Federal refuges in the study area. Based on visits 



State refuges, various criteria were recognized for selection of study sites. 

 A list of these criteria was drawn up, and the study sites were selected jointly 

 by the contractor and the USFWS. 



Task 2, Compilation and Synthesis of Environmental Data 



Subtask 2:1, control site selection . Control sites located near the refuges 

 were identified based on similarity of ecosystems. Two types of control sites 

 were found, those with oil and gas activities, and those without petroleum 



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