Alternative Futures for the Region of Camp Pendleton California U.S.A. Oak Grove Valley

The U.5. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA Science Advisory Board, in its report Reducing Risk: Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection (U.S. EPA, 1990), identified the highest priority environmental risks to the United States, based primarily on geographic extent and irreversibility of effects. Habitat modification and loss of species diversity were ranked at the highest level of ecological risk. Habitat and species diversity are tightly coupled; species diversity at a regional level cannot be maintained without maintaining quality habitat. The Science Advisory Board expressed the view shared by many ecologists that natural habitats and their associated assemblages of plants and animals are under severe and widespread stress, primarily from the loss, alteration, and degradation of natural ecosystems resulting from human activities. In recognition that research on the loss of biological diversity can be addressed effectively only through the cooperation of interested parties, the Biodiversity Research Consortium (the BRC) was formed to develop databases and analytical methods for assessing and managing risks to biodiversity. Current membership in the