Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
April 1987
Abstract
Scoping is the formal name for a process designed to identify public issues and incorporate public values into the decision making process for management of public lands. Scoping ensures that a public agency, in this case the Nebraska National Forest, will identify important issues and develop alternative management strategies for projects in full public view. Scoping has specific and fairly limited objectives: (a) to identify the affected public and agency concerns; (b) to facilitate an efficient analysis of the environmental impacts; (c) to define the issues and alternatives that will be examined in detail; and (d) to make sure that the analysis and documentation adequately address the relevant issues. Scoping should lay a firm foundation for the agency decision making process. If all the necessary information for formulating policies and making rational choices has been considered then the agency will be able to make sound and prompt decisions that will usually satisfy the public.