title: Assessing and Managing Natural Resource Damages: Continuing Challenges and Opportunities.
abstract: In a 2002 paper, we discussed the technical challenges associated with quantifying natural resource injuries, service losses and damages, and suggested some actions that might help to overcome them. An important suggestion was to consider using some of the approaches in ecological risk assessment to help evaluate potential natural resource injuries, and ultimately in some cases to help translate those injuries into natural resource service loss. This was based on the observation that ecological risk assessment and natural resource damage assessments use much of the same types of data, but at that time the experience base with ecological risk assessment was greater than for natural resource damage assessments. We also discussed some of the issues in applying the then current Department of Interior natural resource damage assessments regulations. Since our 2002 publication the scientific literature, relevant regulations, the global context and more have changed. In the current paper we focus on the technical and regulatory changes in natural resource damage assessments practice since 2002, and use recent reports and publications to illustrate those changes and identify new directions in natural resource damage assessments.
authors.affiliation: LWB Environmental Services, Inc., 1620 New London Rd., Hamilton, OH, 45013, USA. Barnthouse@lwb-env.com.
authors.forename: Lawrence W
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5131-8794
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Barnthouse
authors.affiliation: DuPont Corporate Remediation Group, Chestnut Run Plaza, Bldg 730, Rm 3170-8 974 Centre Road, P.O. Box 2915, Wilmington, Delaware, 19805, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Stahl
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D055669:Ecological and Environmental Phenomena; D033161:Government Regulation; D000067936:Natural Resources; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: Ecological risk assessment; Environmental management; Natural resource damages