ABSTRACT
Environmental assessments are performed by assessors and this book is about what you do or will do as an assessor. Few assessors have been trained in environmental assessment. I was trained in ecology and environmental toxicology and fell into assessment when promised funds for microcosm studies vanished. This chapter explains your potential roles and who you will interact with, so that you will not be as clueless as I was. As an assessor, you are not isolated. You are part of a community that initiates assessments, generates data, makes decisions, and works to influence the decision. In the course of a career, you are likely to play more than one of these parts.
