ABSTRACT
As a process, ecological risk assessment (ERA) may benefit efforts to remediate soils contaminated with chemicals intentionally or unintentionally released to the environment. The ERA process has gained increased application across a wide range of environmental issues because it attempts to integrate and synthesize available technical information that may contribute to environmental decisions and to help forge environmental policy developed by environmental decision-makers. By applying the process and technical tools available in ERA to a wide range of land-use and wateruse issues, fish and wildlife scientists and resource managers can
• Identify resources that are “at risk” from a variety of environmental stressors (chemical, physical, and biological) that may be characteristic of habitats variously impacted by a range of anthropogenic activities,
• Prioritize data collection, including the design of field investigations for assessment and monitoring when the current status of “at-risk” resources is adequately characterized, and
• Link human activities — both causal and remedial in character — or naturally occurring hazards with their potential ecological effects during the restoration or rehabilitation of habitats of concern.
