ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the key obstacles as the complexity of the decision-making system and a series of management problems. It suggests that improving the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for insect control and evaluates the Maine experience. The effective use of EISs in the spruce budworm program was hindered by several complexities in the decision-making process. EISs for Maine budworm projects have been prepared at field level by a small insect and disease management staff at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A national, tiered EIS would be the best vehicle for setting out policy on the federal role in cost sharing, technical assessment, and research on pest management. The EIS process has forced program planners to keep with new data and has provided a stimulus to improve environmental and health monitoring. The EISs were neither useful decision-making tools for policy makers, nor useful information tools for the public, nor aids to administrators and researchers.
