Multilevel Environmental Impact Analysis - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 234

r A comprehensive literature review (mandatory first step, see
Section 5.2.2) of sensitive environmental resources and receptors.
r A listing, general description, and requirements for optional land
uses and activities.
r A comparison of desired activities and land uses of the available
environmental resources within the available land.
r A designation of a proposed action and alternatives to assign vari-
ous activities to various large-scale land tracks within the park or
forest.
r A description of the types of impacts on environmental resources
and mitigation measures anticipated for each alternative.
For some activities in some areas, the programmatic document can pro-
vide sufficient detail and environmental impact analysis such that a follow-
up evaluation is not necessary. But this is the exception, and in other cases
the programmatic environmental analysis lays a foundation for follow-up or
“tiered” analyses for each individual activity within each large-scale land
track or other broad-scale environmental settings. For example, if snowmo-
biling is designated as a beneficial land use for a certain area in the program-
matic evaluation, a subsequent analysis to evaluate alternative trails, timing
of activity, administrative protocols (e.g., charging for use, number of users
allowed), and so on could be conducted. This would avoid getting bogged
down in the details during the initial environmental analysis and put off
such specifics to a follow-up tiered analysis until the decision to actually
implement snowmobiling was made in the programmatic evaluation. If the
detailed evaluation done in the tiered document revealed it was impossible
to designate trails of sufficient length without significantly infringing on
sensitive environmental resources, the programmatic environmental analy-
sis might have to be supplemented. Other similar site-specific analyses can
be prepared for other uses and areas within the context of the programmatic
analysis without having to repeat the common information and analyses
multiple times. Analysis at the programmatic level also facilitates the evalu-
ation of cumulative impact evaluation on the park as a whole, because at
the programmatic level, all areas of the park are taken into account, and the
combined impact on such attributes as transportation, aesthetics, and other
resources can be addressed once and not repeated in each tiered document.
Another frequent and productive application of the programmatic
approach to environmental impact analysis is establishing environmentally
friendly protocols for program components. In many cases, a program-
matic analysis addresses similar actions to be executed in multiple locations,
and these actions can result in similar impacts. The programmatic analysis
can fully evaluate these impacts and frequently identify mitigating mea-
sures that fully address the impacts (see discussion of impact mitigation
for Fort Campbell and irrigation in Haiti, Section 5.4.5). This evaluation can