This final report reiterates that general assessment. As first conceived and presented to the committee in 1991, EMAP was significantly different than it is today. One of the major strengths of EMAP as initially presented was that it planned to integrate information across regions and across resource types, but the nature and extent of that integration is stir' not clear. Given the need for 10 years or more of data to sample regions and distinguish trends, nobody including the members of this committee can be certain whether, or how fully, EMAP will achieve its stated goals. However, the program- wide concerns expressed in the committee's previous reports, in Chapter 2 of this report, and summarized below, are so important that EMAP will have little chance of achieving its goals if they are not addressed.
Concerns revolve around the following issues.
The EMAP sampling program may operate at too coarse a scale in space and time to detect meaningful changes in the condition of ecological resources. EMAP's success will be diminished if it does not develop reliable, scientifically defensible indicators for measuring change. The development of indicators of ecological health or integrity and of aesthetic quality appear to be particularly challenging. EMAP's success will be diminished if the retrospective or prospective monitoring approach does not match the assessment needs and the needs of policymakers. EMAP needs to incorporate the best scientific advice in the design, implementation, and review of its program.