Identify and Collect Data

At the conclusion of the scoping period, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) identifies the significant issues that will be analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  This directs the preparation of the Draft EIS.  The first step is to identify what data is already available and what data gaps exist.  The next step is to begin filling in the data gaps by contacting experts, collecting references and reference material, and conducting field surveys.  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) directs BLM and other federal agencies subject to NEPA to allow for accuarate scientific analysis, expert agency comments, and public scrutiny (40 C.F.R. 1502.24).  This is commonly referred to as "best available science".  During this time, data was collected for the following resources:

• Geology
• Soil
• Water
• Vegetation
• Wildlife
• Land Use
• Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Wilderness, and Other Special Use Areas
• Recreation
• Air Quality
• Noise
• Visual Resources
• Socioeconomics
• Environmental Justice
• Hazardous and Solid Waste
• Paleontology
• Archaeology and Historic Properties

The following resources do not occur in the project area, and therefore did not need to be studied further:

• Wild and Scenic Rivers
• Wild Horse and Burros
• Prime and Unique Farmlands
• Indian Trust Assets

Each of the resources above can be broken down into subtopics, and each subtopic must be looked at to determine what data gaps need to be resolved.  In addition, NEPA requires Environmental Impact Statements to include a Cumulative Impacts Section, in which the impacts from the proposed project must be analyzed in the context of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions. 

During the data collection period, staff involved with the preparation of the EIS frequently refer to the scoping comments and issues that were brought up during scoping to ensure that the concerns are being addressed and to determine where more data is needed.  In some cases, the existing data is incomplete or not available.  When this situation occurs, the Council on Environmental Equality (CEQ) directs the agency to obtain the information if the cost to do so is not exorbitant.  If collecting the data is not possible, the EIS must disclose what information is not available and identify the relevance of the information.

Once the data is collected, the analysis part of the EIS begins.