Given the increasingly complex tradeoffs inherent in environmental protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes the need to improve its ability to assess the potential ecological benefits of its environmental policy decisions. Towards this end, EPA has developed this Ecological Benefits Assessment Strategic Plan (hereafter referred to as the EBASP or the Plan). The EBASP promotes an integrated process for assessing ecological benefits that requires sustained interdisciplinary work by both natural and social scientists. It highlights important actions that would help the Agency achieve steady improvement in the ecological benefits assessments it conducts to support its environmental decisionmaking. The EBASP focuses on institutional and technical considerations that arise most often in national-level ecological benefits assessments and where there are statutory requirements for conducting benefit cost analyses (BCA). Hence, the intended primary audience of the EBASP includes EPA managers and staff in offices conducting ecological benefits assessments and those engaged in research that supports such assessments. Rather than articulating specific research projects or committing Agency program offices to particular courses of action, the Plan is intended to inform the development of office-specific Action Plans and Multi-Year Plans for research. Broad institutional actions are described to facilitate cooperation across offices to improve Agency benefits assessments.

Includes bibliographical references (p.31-32)