PARENT SESSION
PW17 - Problems of Scale in Assessment of Contaminant Fate & Transport
Wednesday, 20 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall

(P909) SPATIALLY EXPLICIT RISK-BASED APPROACHES FOR ASSESSING ECOLOGICAL VALUE AND REUSE OPTIONS OF FORMER MILITARY SITES.

Linkov, Igor^*,1, Grebenkov, Alexandr², Baitchorov, Vladimir³, ¹ ICF Consulting, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA² Institute of Power Engineering, Minsk, Belarus³ Institute of Zoology, Minsk, Belarus

ABSTRACT- As a result of defense-related activities, large areas of valuable habitat can be physically disturbed and/or contaminated by hazardous pollutants. It is, however, important to understand that the military impact on such areas may not be wholly detrimental to the environment: their closure to the public can result in preservation of large portions of habitat. Many former military sites have been converted for civilian use, while others are still actively operated for military purposes. In both cases, a major task for environmental policy- and decision-makers is to determine scientifically justified reuse and/or operation scenarios that would not result in deterioration of site habitats and that would, in fact, be favorable to further development of their biodiversity. Ecological risk assessment is suggested as the key process for use in assessing the ecological value of contaminated and/or disturbed military sites, and for developingreuse and/or operation decision protocols as well. This talk will present a number of risk and habitat assessment techniques that we are currently developing and integrating into a computerized risk-based framework. The application of risk-based protocols to the implementation of both national and international strategies regarding conservation of biodiversity at affected military sites will also be discussed.

Key words: risk assessment, modeling, military sites, decision support