8107

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8107
• Author: Rosenthal, T., ed.
• Title: FWS/OBS series annotated bibliography
• USFW Year: 1985.
• USFW - Doc Type: Complete listing and subject index.
• Copyright Material: NO

FOREWORD

Fiscal Year 1985 marks the end of the first decade of the Biological
Services Program and of the Division of Biological Services. Ten years ago
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was confronted by two major events: increas-
i ng Federal interest in energy and water development, and a growi ng nat i ona 1.
environmental awareness and ethic. In the wake of the National Environmental
Po 1 icy Act and Proj ect Independence, government and pri vate interests were
struggl ing to better identify and avoid or mitigate adverse impacts on our
Nation1s living resources. From this challenge came the Office of Biological
Services, which became the Division of Biological Services (DBS) in 1982.

Biological Services was established to accomplish the following threefold
mission:

*

To strengthen the Fish and Wildlife Service
the primary Federal source of information
resources, particularly in respect to
assessment;

(USFWS) in its role as
on fish and wildlife
environmental impact

*

To gather, analyze, and present information to aid decisionmakers in
the identification and resolution of problems associated with major
land and water use changes;

*

To provide better ecological information and evaluation for
Department of the Interior programs, such as those relating to
energy and mineral development. (USFWS, Annual Report, 1976).

To achieve this mission, DBS launched a program employing many strategies:
centralized, specialized National Teams; a heavy emphasis on information
transfer to bridge the gap between traditional research and policy-makers;
reliance on analysis and synthesis of existing information where possible;
fostering multidisciplinary skills and solutions; and flexibility to accommo-
date changing needs.

At its inception, DBS defined a series of projects: Coal; Water Resources
Analysis; Systems and Inventory; Geothermal, Mineral and Oil Shale Resources;
Coastal and OCS Development; Power Plant; and Information Transfer. From
these have come the vari ety of tools, techno 1 ogi es, and products associ ated
with DBS. DBS has emphasized fish and wildlife habitats, and methods to
analyze and inventory those habitats. Major contributions include:

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