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Program Description
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of actions that are proposed on public lands.
Course Description
The overall goal of this course is to show you how to improve your impact analysis and NEPA documentation by making them more scientifically sound and legally defensible.
This course is separated into three lessons. In Lesson 1, you will learn how to plan out your analysis, allowing you to identify potential problems and data gaps, and to document your methodology and assumptions. In Lesson 2, you will learn how to write an impact analysis by incorporating several key principles and considering the context and severity of the impacts before documenting your conclusions and rationale. Lesson 3 is an optional lesson, where you will learn how to determine whether the effects are significant or not.
This course consists of video clips and exercises, which allow you to incrementally build your skills—you’ll even get a chance to write a short impact analysis. If possible, watch the video segments and work the exercises with the other members of your interdisciplinary team, then discuss your answers together. After you finish with each exercise, you may compare your answers to the instructor’s during the review segments. To receive credit for this training, you must achieve 80% on the posttest in DOI Learn.
Target Audience: BLM employees who analyze effects of proposed actions on natural resources and land uses as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The course is also available to non-BLM employees at no cost.
Pre-requisites: This is an intermediate course, so the participant should possess a general understanding of NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing NEPA. Course #1620-17 (NEPA Concepts) provides a basic overview of NEPA and the CEQ Regulations. It is an online course that can be taken through DOI Learn anytime at no cost. Course #1620-02 (NEPA Analysis Process for the BLM) provides an overview of the NEPA analysis process. It is also an online course that can either be accessed through the Knowledge Resource Center or, for credit, through DOI Learn.
Instructor: Matt Petersen, SWCA Environmental Consultants mpetersen@swca.com
Select the first file below to begin the course.