ENVIRONMENTAL/NEPA 
News from across the Agencies

One goal of the 1998 FHWA National Strategic Plan is to protect and enhance the natural environment and communities affected by highway transportation. A strategic objective of this goal is to improve the quality of the natural environment by reducing highway-related pollution and by protecting and enhancing ecosystems. To ensure the achievement of this goal and objective, FHWA currently measures the performance through two air quality indicators and one wetland mitigation indicator. 

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has joined forces with the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service to find constructive uses for an aggressive tree species plaguing the southwestern United States. The goal of the joint effort is to control the spread of saltcedar, a tree that displaces native plants and devastates wildlife habitat and ecosystems on more than a million acres of rangeland.  click to view

As of the middle of this fiscal year, the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence has awarded more than $580 million in projects at Air Force installations worldwide in support of the Air Force mission, according to figures released this month. AFCEE, the Air Force's premier environmental and construction management center, obligated the funds to various small and large businesses that will perform work at locations around the world.  click to view 

STEPS IN CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ANALYSIS 
TO BE ADDRESSED IN EACH COMPONENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

1. Identify the significant cumulative effects issues associated with the proposed action and define the assessment goals.
   
2. Establish the geographic scope for the analysis.
   
3. Establish the time frame for the analysis.
   
4. Identity other actions affecting the resources, ecosystems, and human communities of concern.
   
5. Characterize the resources, ecosystems, and human communities identified during scoping in terms of their response to change and capacity to withstand stresses.
   
6. Characterize the stresses affecting these resources, ecosystems, and human communities and their relation to regulatory thresholds.
   
7. Define a baseline condition for the resources, ecosystems, and human communities.
   
8. Identify the important cause-and-effect relationships between human activities and resources, ecosystems, and human communities.
   
9. Determine the magnitude and significance of cumulative effects.
   
10. Modify or add alternates to avoid, minimize, or mitigate significant cumulative effects.
    
11. Monitor the cumulative effects of the selected alternative and adapt management.
    

Las Vegas, NV
February 1-4, 2005
Transportation NEPA for Department of Transportation Specialists

Reno, NV
February 8-10, 2005
Clear Writing for NEPA Specialists

Customized and Tailored ONSITE interactive training

Call for additional information

* Upcoming Workshop 
for Air Force Personnel
Jacksonville, FL 
January 25-28, 2005
 How to Manage the EIAP/NEPA Process