Abstract
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually in the United States on environmental monitoring, policy and decision makers seldom have ready access to monitoring data to aid in prioritizing reasearch and assessment efforts or to assess the extent to which current policies are meeting the desired objectives. EPA is currently conducting research to evaluate options for establishing an integrated, cooperative monitoring program, with participation by federal, state, and private entities, that could result in annual statistical reports and interpretive summaries on the status and trends in indicators of adverse disturbance and corresponding ‘health’ of the nation's ecosystem on the regional and national scale.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Conservation Foundation: 1987, State of the Environment: A View Toward the Nineties. Washington, DC.
Hughes, R., Larsen, D., and Omernik, J.: 1986, ‘Regional Reference Sites: A Method for Assessing Stream Potentials’, Environ. Manage. 10, 629–635.
Kutz, F. and Linthurst, R.: 1990, ‘A Systems-Level Approach to Environmental Assessment’, Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry 28, 105–114.
Messer, J., Landers, D., Linthurst, R., and Overton, W.: 1987, ‘Critical Design and Interpretive Aspects of the National Surface Water Survey, Lake Reservoir Mange 3, 463–469.
Moss, M.: 1989, ‘Water Quality Information in the Information Age: How Far Have We Come and Where Are We Going?’, International Symposium on the Design of Water Quality Information Systems. Ft. Collins, Colo. 7–9 June.
Paul, J., Holland, F., Scott, K., Flemer, D., and Meier, E.: 1989, ‘An Ecological Status and Trends Program: EPA's Approach to Monitoring the Condition of the Nation's Ecosystems’, Oceans '89. 18–21 September, 1989, Seattle, WA.
Portney, P.: 1988, ‘Reforming Environmental Regulation: Three Modest Proposals’, Issues in Science and Technology 4, 72–81.
Roughgarden, J.: 1989, ‘The United States Needs and Ecological Survey’, Bioscience 39, 5.
Smith, R., Alexander, R., and Wolman, M.: 1987, ‘Water-Quality Trends in the Nation's Rivers’, Science 235, 1607–1615.
U.S. EPA: 1988, ‘Future Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990's’, SAB-EC-88-048. Science Advisory Board, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
U.S. House of Representatives: 1984, Environmental Monitoring and Improvement Act: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agricultural, Research, and the Environment of the Committee on Science and Technology, March 28, 1984. U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research described in this article has not been subjected to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Messer, J.J., Linthurst, R.A. & Overton, W.S. An EPA program for monitoring ecological status and trends. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 17, 67–78 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402462
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402462