Chapter II - Review of Wildlife EIS Process 



the process was the development of eight options or elements that were 

 common across the four scenarios. These "robust options" were used to 

 help refine the alternatives hsted in the EIS report. The consultant 

 issued a formal report on the scenario process which was published in 

 July 1995. 



Management Consensus 



In November 1995, the EIS Team held meetings with the Wildlife 

 Division administrator and then with the director to get clarification on 

 how the team was to proceed. The main result was development of an 

 approach that could be supported by top management. This was the 

 third and final major revision to the EIS approach. The team received 

 approval to hire two consultants to develop a process to help finish the 

 project. In February 1996, the EIS Team and the consultants met with 

 top management and discussed the proposed action and core 

 philosophies. The result of this meeting, and ones later in the Spring, 

 resulted in management approval of the alternatives and a draft of an 

 alternatives/issues matrix which provided a basis for a large part of the 

 EIS analysis and the subsequent report. 



Effects Assessment Team 



An Effects Assessment Team was established to describe the 

 environmental effects of the five alternatives. The 16-member team of 

 department staff met for five days under the direction of two 

 consultants. The work of the Effects Assessment Team was then 

 refined over the next two months by the EIS Team. 



Draft EIS Report 



The bulk of the work that was used to complete the draft EIS was 

 completed during 1996 following the approach developed by the two 

 consultants. The first draft of the report was completed in December 

 1996, also with the help of the consultants. The draft was not 

 immediately released because the director wanted to release the report at 

 the same time as two Fisheries and Parks planning reports, which were 

 not yet ready. 



During 1997 and early 1998, the Wildlife EIS report underwent editing 

 and layout work preparing the report for printing. The report was 

 released for pubUc comment on April 1, 1998. PubUc hearings were 

 held in seven cities across the state in May 1998. Additional comments 



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