Environmental Research Research has provided information and conclusions that have become the basis for much of the analyses, decisions, and content of Guidance . More than 20 different federal agencies conduct research on pieces of the environment. Research on the Everglades, for example, is being conducted by the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Army Corps of Engineers, and myriad of state and local agencies.
Research is seen as the subsystem that provides inputs to decisions .
Research is only one, but an important, way to know anything. It has already contributed much. In the larger context of a dynamic system, many fruits of past work and investments are likely yet to be harvested. These returns can be used effectively in new models and expert systems. Research needs to be continued in a strategic way on carefully-selected topics that will allow informed changes to be made in R very cost effectively.