The incidence and scale of reported environmental problems have changed over the past two decades. The public is increasingly concerned that the resources upon which they rely for recreation, quality of life, and economic livelihood remain sustainable. Scientists are increasingly concerned that the impact of pollutants now extends well beyond the local scale: global climate change, acidic deposition, deposition of air toxics, ozone depletion, nonpoint source pollutant and sediment discharges to waterways, and habitat alteration threaten our ecosystems on regional and global scales. Unfortunately, the current status of our environment on regional and global scales is often not well documented. While the authors believe that our policies and programs are improving the quality of our environment, they often cannot demonstrate improvement with available data.

Caption title: EMAP--Great Lakes monitoring and research strategy. "June 1992." "EPA 620-R-92-001"--P. {3}. Includes bibliographical references.