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ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM - WESTERN LANDSCAPE PILOT
Impact/Purpose:
There are four basic objectives of the project:
Demonstrate the application of a comparative landscape assessment in analyzing the vulnerability of surface and coastal water conditions to declines based on landscape conditions (as estimated by landscape indicators as demonstrated in the mid-Atlantic landscape atlas) in western environments;
Develop and apply landscape assessment approaches relative to specific issues, including an ability to prioritize the vulnerability of areas relative to the Clean Water Act 303(d) designations; Quantify relationships between landscape conditions (as measured by landscape indicators) and surface and coastal waters in the west to reduce the uncertainty in comparative landscape assessments, and issue-specific, landscape assessments (e.g., Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs);
Complete a west-wide, comparative landscape assessment relative to surface and coastal water vulnerability;
Transfer landscape assessment technologies to Regional Offices so that they can conduct landscape assessments at many scales.
Description:
As demonstrated in the mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S., landscape assessments can be used to evaluate ecological resources at a range of scales across entire regions. These assessments can be used to target those areas where water resources are most vulnerable to decline due to landscape conditions, and to recommend areas needing environmental protection and restoration.
The primary aim of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is to develop the technology to evaluate status and trends in aquatic resources nationally, and to work with EPA Regional Offices and other Federal agencies to demonstrate and implement monitoring. To this point, nearly all of EMAP's emphasis has been on monitoring applications in eastern regions of the U.S. We anticipate that landscape/surface and coastal water relationships will be different in different regions of the country, especially in the western U.S. where topographical and climate are quite variable.
In 1998, EMAP made a commitment to develop, test, and demonstrate stream, coastal, and landscape monitoring and assessment protocols in the western U.S., including all of the states found within the boundaries of EPA Regions 8, 9, and 10. The landscape activity of the EMAP western pilot is viewed as critical in assessing status, trends, and vulnerabilities of aquatic resources across the western U.S.