NEPA
The
NEPA model
Click
to view and download the environmental documents underlying the Five Rivers
project
Notice
of Intent
Group: Martha Brookes, Paul Thomas, Bruce Buckley, Owen Schmidt, Bernard Bormann, …
The Five Rivers partnership has developed a streamlined and
highly focused NEPA documents with:
v
A
site-specific, operational landscape-management plan for the 37,000-acre Five
Rivers watershed in coastal Oregon, with activities planned for 30
years;
v A sequence of
decision letters and documents ending in an EIS and ROD (see below).
v
An
EIS with a main body text of only 65 pages (with 20 pages of maps and 5
appendices), thought to replace at least eight environmental
assessments;
v
A
new writing style designed by a technical science editor (Martha Brookes) that
emphasizes first person, precise and concise wording, and
v A premise that
unnecessary analysis and documentation detract from the readability of the
document and obscure the decision.
v
A
learning objective (purpose and need) and an appendix with a peer-reviewed
study plan that institutionalize adaptive management as directed by
the Northwest Plan;
v New roles for
Forest Service scientists in planning, and
v
New
responsibilities and attributions for National Forest specialists
to connect science to the management plan in the context of the local setting.
to connect science to the management plan in the context of the local setting.
This model links writing style, learning
objectives, and legal considerations and demonstrates that not all EISs must
be excessively long with too much analyses. With the June 2002 signing of the Five
Rivers ROD, these decision documents set an important new precedent. Historically, NEPA writers have followed the
format of previous, unchallenged NEPA documents. We can give them a new format and underlying
philosophy to improve future NEPA documents.
Read how we
developed our approach (36 Kb doc
file)
Informal
case study
Five Rivers NEPA model
(111 Kb
pdf file)
(16 Mb
pdf file)
(388 Kb
pdf file)
(71 Kb
doc file)
Five
Rivers Project Initiation letter
(not
available)