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to J G.xk~ ~~C\. I~, 07Q 2,3 CHAPTER 17 AN ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT John Carter and Vincent Lamarra Co-Directors Ecosystems Research Institute Logan, Utah 84321 ABSTRACT The central problem in the preparation of the Detailed Development Plan for the White River Shale Project, was the preparation of a long- term environmental management/monitoring program. The program had to satisfy regulations of the various governing agencies, and be flexible and economical. The major difficulty encountered was analyzing and interpreting six years of environmental data in a manner which would allow the management of the White River Shale Oil Corporation to make logical and correct decisions about program needs and which would reflect environmental processes occurring in the region of development. This difficulty was overcome by use of a conceptual ecosystem model as the organizing principle for the analysis. Use of the model has allowed the establishment of statistically valid quantitative relationships and pointed out areas of insufficient data or lack of coordination. The 1981-82 program was designed to complete the important ecosystem relationships which will be used to guide the long-term monitoring program and aid in evaluation of project impacts and mitigation. INTRODUCTION The federal Oil Shale Leasing Program was created in response to President Nixon's 1971 request to the Department of the Interior for a plan to develop the extensive oil shale resources in the United States. Six tracts of land were selected for lease in the prototype program: two each in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The tracts are in the Green River Formation, where oil yield 261