Environmental Impact Research Program. Techniques to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Effort in Applications of the Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP)

摘要

The US Fish and Wildlife Service's Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP) are widely used to assess impacts of major water resource projects. These procedures provide a flexible tool that is also valuable when study objectives are limited or when lower resolution is desired. This report describes various options that can be used to tailor HEP to a particular application and level of effort desired by the user. Several techniques improve efficiency without sacrificing reliability; others reduce the resolution of the analysis, and their use depends upon the objectives of the study. The amount of effort involved in a habitat evolution can be reduced by (a) using only those portions of the HEP process that are appropriate to the application and (b) simplifying the process, particularly those steps that affect the intensity of sampling. Keywords: Environmental impact assessment, Habitat evaluation, Wildlife habitat. (JES)