Environmental Analyses

Environmental analyses focus on determining the vulnerability of natural resources (e.g., include bodies of waters, prairies, slopes of hills, endangered or threatened species and their critical habitats, wetlands, and estuaries) to natural hazards and other hazards that result from the impact of natural hazards, such as oil spills or the release of pesticides, hazardous materials, or sewage into areas of environmental concern.

Environmental impacts are important to consider, because they not only jeopardize habitats and species, but they can also threaten public health (e.g., water quality), the performance of economic sectors (e.g., agriculture, energy, fishing, transportation, and tourism), and quality of life (e.g., access to natural landscapes and recreational activities). For example, flooding can result in contamination whereby raw sewage, animal carcasses, chemicals, pesticides, hazardous materials, etc. are transported through sensitive habitats, neighborhoods, and businesses. These circumstances can result in major cleanup and remediation activities, as well as natural resource degradation and bacterial illnesses.