A wealth of environmental monitoring information has been developed since the nation first turned its collective attention to improving environmental quality more than three decades ago. Yet many scientists, most decision-makers, and nearly all members of the public still have little understanding of the health or integrity of the nation's ecological systems. The monitoring programs tailored to report on the implementation of environmental laws and programs the cleanup of pollutants, the management of public forests and rangelands, and so forth may accomplish the intended purpose but do not provide the information required to assess the integrity of ecological systems in a systematic way across regions.