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ORD ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH STRATEGY
Citation:
Usepa. ORD ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH STRATEGY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-98/086, 1998.
Description:
In virtually every major environmental act, Congress has required that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not only ensure that the air is safe to breathe, the water safe to drink, and the food supply free of contamination, but also that it protect the environment. As a result, EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) has established ecological protection as one of the highest priority research areas for investment over the next five years. Within this context and recognizing the work underway and proposed by other agencies during the last year, scientists within ORD have developed an Ecological Research Strategy. This document serves primarily to guide planning and implementation of the in-house research program, but also discusses extramural research needs in key areas. The ORD Ecological Research Strategy focuses on the single, broad goal:Provide the scientific understanding required to measure, model, maintain and/or restore, at multiple scales, the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems now and in the future. The research is organized around four fundamental areas of research needed by the Agency and in which ORD has made significant contributions traditionally. These research areas are:(1) ecosystem monitoring; (2) ecological processes and modeling; (3)ecological risk assessment; and (4) ecological risk management and restoration. Within this comprehensive framework, research objectives and priorities are presented in terms of what basic science capabilities are needed to maintain focused, core research competencies and for how these capabilities may be used to address high priority environmental threats. The strategy was developed after an assessment of the current capability and capacity of the scientific resources in ORD coupled with the current and future needs of the EPA Program and Regional Offices. It also considers other Agency activities and proposed research to complement and not duplicate those programs. The ORD Ecological Research Strategy further articulates the current and future direction of the program within the context of the Agency's Government Performance and Results Act commitments, establishes the long-term program goals and objectives, and documents the rationale for the chosen program direction. While the strategy delineates the research areas comprising the overall Ecological Research Program, the specifics for these research areas -- including the scientific approach at the individual project level, and the anticipated project products, performance measures and specific schedules -- will be included in subsequent research plans for specific areas of research and in Laboratory/Center implementation plans and are not a part of this strategy.