Why and How to do Environmental Planning June 9, 2005 Rich Schrader

Purposes for Environmental Plans Education/Community Inquiry: Scientific Understanding Community or Agency Advocacy: To advance values or promote agency/program goals. Regulatory or Legal: To satisfy legal requirements such as ESA, NEPA, CWA.

Watershed Assessment Study Reason(s) Rocky Mountain Network (2005) Data Use(s): I Education/ Community Inquiry II Community or Agency Advocacy/ Planning III Regulatory/ Legal A. Condition and Trend Investigation Assessment A-I General background information Assessment A-II Watershed Management Planning; 305(b) report N/A B.Impact Investigation Non Point Source Assessment B-I Educate community or students about pollution impacts Assessment B-II Identify impacts for remediation Assessment B-III CWA Violations Point Source Assessment B-IV Educate community or students about pollution impacts Assessment B-V Identify impacts for remediation Assessment B-VI CWA Violations C. Effectiveness Investigation Assessment C-I Educate students about effectiveness of BMPs, restoration projects Assessment C-II Evaluation of effectiveness of BMPs, restoration projects N/A D.Use Support Investigation Assessment D-I Community or student education about use impacts Assessment D-II Watershed Management Planning; 303(d) report Assessment D-III CWA violations

Plan Purposes Areas of Activity in Landscape Planning (Marsh 1991) Environmental Inventory Opportunities and constraints – including land suitability analysis Hazard Assessment Forecasting impacts Site selection Special environments

Building Social Network and Shared Language

Ecosystem Principles & Complexities Everything is connected Separation anxiety: How to tells what is human-caused impact and what is natural? Ecosystem = Bio – Chem - Physical Connections EPA Rapid Bio Assessment

Theories in Environmental Problem Solving Exposure (such as concentration of suspended sediment in a river) Stress (such as massive erosion) Response (such a an increase of tolerant insects in the benthic macroinvertibrate community) After Geoff Dates (River Network) and Karr (??)

Challenges in Identifying Causes vs. Symptoms Soil erosion (cause or symptom) Catastrophic fire Massive bark beetle infestation and pinyon kill Bank failure of a steep slope after a drought

Multi-metric Indices (Karr 1981) Multi-metric indices as the standard in the United States for accurately assessing watershed health. Five activities are central to making multimetric biological indexes effective: Classifying environments to define homogeneous sets within or across ecoregions (e.g., streams, lakes, or wetlands; large or small streams; warm- water or cold-water lakes; high- or low-gradient streams). Classifying environments Selecting measurable attributes that provide reliable and relevant signals about the biological effects of human activities. Selecting measurable attributesreliable and relevant signals Developing sampling protocols and designs that ensure that those biological attributes are measured accurately and precisely. Developing sampling protocols and designs Devising analytical procedures to extract and understand relevant patterns in those data. extract and understand relevant patterns Communicating the results to citizens and policymakers so that all concerned communities can contribute to environmental policy.

Steps for Creating Successful Environmental Plans Understand who is the client and what they need Facilitate creation of a profound and meaningful vision (10 year minimum) Make it real with milestones in shorter term. Develop learning capacity of plan users (shared language & group/institutional commitment)

If in doubt, Wing – It with care We are experimenting with our environment and our culture Don’t forget to consider the precautionary principle