Our environmental concerns prompt launching large monitoring programs.
Examining the history and accomplishments of similar endeavors is the
best way to avoid errors. One lesson taught by the oldest and largest
survey of national renewable resources in the United States, the Fore
st Inventory and Analysis Program, is that the program itself is not c
apable of learning from its errors. Among other problems that beset bi
g programs are unrealistic promises. It is not possible to inventory '
'every animal and plant species in the United States and their habitat
s'' as the newly created National Biological Survey vows to do. Even i
f it were possible, this would hardly help to attain the ultimate goal
of the Survey, survival of all species. In his request to fund the Su
rvey, Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, compared the conflict
between economic development and environmental integrity with train wr
ecks. This metaphor is as brilliant as it is deceitful. Its brilliance
, attested by the success with the press and legislature, is in a vivi
d and blithe image suggesting that, given sufficient information, the
conflict could be averted. After all, railroad accidents are rare and
avoidable exceptions. This hopeful situation cannot be honestly compar
ed with the plight of our environment. The crucial piece of informatio
n - that there is no spare track for economic development - is readily
available. Our population and economic growth take place in the same
space that has already been fully occupied by other species. To be tru
stworthy, monitoring programs should face the reality that development
necessitates environmental degradation.