Manager’s Guide to the Integrated Ecological Framework

This publication is intended to help transportation and environmental professionals apply ecological principles early in the planning and programming process of highway capacity improvements to inform later environmental reviews and permitting. Ecological principles consider cumulative landscape, water resources, and habitat impacts of planned infrastructure actions, as well as the localized impacts. This guide provides a high-level overview of how to use the Integrated Ecological Framework (IEF), a nine-step process for use in early stages of highway planning, when there are greater opportunities for avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impacts and for planning future mitigation strategies. Success requires some level of agreement among stakeholders about prioritizing resources for preservation or restoration. Such agreements rely on considering long-range environmental planning as a companion to long-range transportation planning so that there is a basis and methodology for prioritization. This guide provides a structured, collaborative way to approach these issues.

[1]  Martin Drechsler,et al.  Applying tradable permits to biodiversity conservation: effects of space-dependent conservation benefits and cost heterogeneity on habitat allocation. , 2009 .

[2]  Brent L. Mahan,et al.  Valuing Urban Wetlands: A Property Price Approach , 1996 .

[3]  Cheryl R. Doss,et al.  The Influence of Wetland Type and Wetland Proximity on Residential Property Values , 1996 .

[4]  W. Mitsch,et al.  The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting. , 2000 .

[5]  J. Zedler.  Wetlands at your service: reducing impacts of agriculture at the watershed scale , 2003 .

[6]  S. Wunder,et al.  Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues , 2008 .

[7]  Mark W. Schwartz,et al.  Choosing the Appropriate Scale of Reserves for Conservation , 1999 .

[8]  Yvonne Jaeger,et al.  Drafting A Conservation Blueprint A Practitioners Guide To Planning For Biodiversity , 2016 .

[9]  Richard B. Shepard,et al.  Quantifying Environmental Impact Assessments Using Fuzzy Logic , 2005 .

[10]  Peter Kareiva,et al.  What is Conservation Science? , 2012 .

[11]  E. Kramer,et al.  A statewide approach for identifying potential areas for wetland restoration and mitigation banking in Georgia: an ecosystem function approach , 2009 .

[12]  Janice W Brown.  Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects , 2006 .

[13]  Ow Us Epa.  Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources; Final Rule , 2015 .

[14]  C. Murcia.  Edge effects in fragmented forests: implications for conservation. , 1995, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[15]  Malcolm L. Hunter,et al.  Book Review - Drafting a conservation blueprint. A Practitioner's Guide to Planning for Biodiversity Craig R. Groves. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2003, cloth $70, ISBN 1-55963-938-5; paper $35, ISBN 1-55963-939-3 , 2004, Biodiversity & Conservation.