Demonstration of a Risk Assessment Framework for Natural Resources on Military Training and Testing Lands

Abstract

Abstract : The Department of Defense (DoD) lacks the methodology to address risks to natural resources resulting from multiple activities, multiple effects, and cumulative effects of military activities. The objective of this project was to develop a structured, scientifically valid, integrated Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) framework to provide, at both the installation and command levels, a common context for characterizing different kinds of risks for comparison and prioritization for risk-based sustainable management of DoD training and testing assets. This document provides a risk assessment framework consistent with, but extending beyond, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework, and specifically addresses DoD-activities and management needs. It is titled Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF) to convey this military focus. The modifications made to the EPA ecological risk assessment framework in developing MERAF enable MERAF to: (1) explicitly address risks from the imposition of multiple and diverse stressors on a site, (2) explicitly address risks resulting from causal chains (e.g., effects on habitat that indirectly impact wildlife), and (3) incorporate the fact that risks to natural resources imply other consequent risks.