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III tNVIRONMEVTAL REM^ARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



eludes studies in contaminanis. habitat protection and managcincnt, population 

 management and fesioraiion, and disease management. This rescaxch is particu- 

 larly imponant in developing the Endangered and Threatened Species List. It has 

 played a central role, for example, in the controversy over the Northern Spotted 

 Owl and forest policy in the Northwest. Some S85 million was appropriated for 

 environmental R&D at the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1991. 



Within the Land and Minerals Management Division, the Bureau of Land 

 Management, the Minerals Management Service, and ilic OITicc of Surface Mining 

 have small environment-related research programs. They include work in forestry, 

 stressed ecosystem management, and global climate change. The Minerals Man- 

 agement Service is resporuible for oil and gas development on the outer continental 

 shelf, and it evaluates the effects of these activities through its Environmental Studies 

 Program. Studies of this program undertaken in recent years by the National Re- 

 search CourKil provide several recommendations for improving research at MMS.'°'' 



The Water and Sciences Division conducts research through the Bureau 

 of Reclamation, the Bureau of Mines, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The Bureau 

 of Mines houses a research program to develop technology for treating waste from 

 mining operations and to minimize land disturbances resulting from mining op- 

 erations. 



The U.S. Geological Survey's original chaner charges it with the "classifica- 

 tion of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral re- 

 sources, and products of the national domain."'"' Its activities include monitoring, 

 gathering data, and conducting analyses of land resources, mincrak and energy 

 resources, and geologic hazards. It is also responsible for studies in surface water 

 and groundwater assessment and protection, toxic and nuclear substances hydrol- 

 ogy, acid rain, and climate change hydrology. The bulk of its program is carried 

 out in three divisions: the National Mapping Program, Geologic Investigations, 

 and Water Resources Investigations. USGS is also a key player in conducting moni- 

 toring activities as pan of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. 



NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 



The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducts a highly 

 capital-intensive environmental research program through space-based observations 

 of land surface, oceans, and atmosphere. The goal of the program is to gain an 

 understanding of the entire canh system on a global, interrelated scale. In pan 

 because of the high cost of the spaceborne hardware necessary for NASA's research 

 program, NASA devoted more than $800 million to environmental R&D in 1991. 

 NASA's research program examines each of the component parts of the 

 eanh system, to see how they have evolved, how they function, and how they may 

 continue to evolve, in seeking to carry out its mission of understanding the earth 

 from a holistic perspective. These component parts include programs in gcodynamics, 

 ocean and land processes, atmospheric dynamics and radiation, and atmospheric 



