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CONDUCTING INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS: DEVELOPING AND DEMONSTRATING A PROCESS THROUGH THE MID-ATLANTIC INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT (MAIA)
Citation:
Smith, E R., K. W. Thornton, AND T B. DeMoss. CONDUCTING INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS: DEVELOPING AND DEMONSTRATING A PROCESS THROUGH THE MID-ATLANTIC INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT (MAIA). Presented at SETAC 20th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 14-18, 1999.
Description:
The Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment is a partnership between EPA Region 3, the Office of Research and Development, and other federal and state partners. The overall goal of MAIA is to improve the environment decision-making process by incorporating the best available information on the condition of resources along with an improved understanding of the relative impacts of various stressors and management actions. At the same time, MAIA has provided the opportunity to develop a process for conducting integrated ecological assessments that can be applied to any region of the United States. This has occurred through constant interaction between stakeholders, clients and researchers to develop a four-step process that includes an assessment of where we are and why we are there (retrospective) and what it means and where we are going (prospective). The first phase (levels one and two) of the integrated assessment were initially addressed through the establishment of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). This first phase of MAIA is now complete and the second phase (levels three and four) of the process is just beginning through the establishment of the Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) Program. ReVA will complete the integrated assessment process through the evaluation of relative risk and projection of future vulnerabilities.