EIA Portfolio

Amanda M Long

This Environmental Impact Assessment portfolio features my knowledge of legislation and the principles and practices of preparing environmental impact statements and assessments.

I created this portfolio during an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) course. It is compiled of assignments showing competency and measures of mastery of ten primary EIA subjects.

Competency Assignments: Aimed to develop the knowledge and skills for the primary subjects of Environmental Impact Assessments.
Mastery Assignments: Required the development of questions with an answer key in such a manner that they can be used to teach.

"You never know a subject better than when you are expected to teach someone that subject"

For Mastery Assignments, I developed questions and scenarios in the state of Michigan (when feasible), as I am building my career here.

I learned how to interpret the impacts that projects, plans, and policies have the on environment as well as the resultant impacts on resources ecosystems, and communities. I examined the methodologies for identifying impacts, describing affected environments, predicting and assessing impacts, and selecting a proposed action from a group of alternative actions that meets a specific need.

Environmental Impact Statement Review: Isle Royale National Park Environmental Impact Statement to Address the Presence of Wolves

Wolves naturally colonized Isle Royale National Park, an island archipelago located in Michigan’s Lake Superior, over a 15-mile ice bridge connecting the island to mainland Canada.

For over 60 years, researchers have studied the relationship between trophic levels in the ecosystem, wolf-moose and wolf-moose-vegetation. As an apex predator, wolves manage moose abundances and distribution, which indirectly manages the vegetation.

Recently, as human activities result in climatic changes, the ice bridge connecting the island and mainland has not formed; decreasing potential immigration to the island. As a result, wolf populations dramatically declined.

Concerns were raised of the impacts this would have on the moose populations and vegetative forest cover on the island. The purpose of the Isle Royale National Park EIS was to address the presence of wolves and determine if and how wolves should be reintroduced to Isle Royale. The four alternative actions were thoroughly considered and accounted for varying alternatives and the biological impacts. The EIS directly considered the purpose and need for action, laws and regulations, potential impacts, affected environment and predicted and assessed impacts, mitigation, alternatives, and monitoring.