LINKING MONITORING AND EFFECTS RESEARCH - EMAPS INTENSIVE SITE NETWORK PROGRAM

The EMAP program has been organized into three primary elements: Multi -Tier Design, Indicators, and Index Sites. The Index Sites program (DI SPro - Demonstration Intensive Site Project) is the primary activity w ithin the Index Sites element of EMAP. This project represents an inte r-agency effort between EPA/ORD and DOI/NPS to develop a demonstration of an intensive site network of monitoring and research locations thr oughout the United States, utilizing the Nation's parklands as ''outdo or laboratories.'' Twelve parks were selected to establish this demons tration. These 12 parks were selected because they are readily accessi ble, have a history of monitoring environmental information, and repre sent a broad spectrum of ecological communities. EMAP, through DISPro, is examining whether a ''network'' of sites existing within the parks can be used to address monitoring issues for global-scale environment al stressors (e.g., air pollution) as well as locale-specific stressor s (e.g., air deposition, water-borne) and coordinated with cause-effec t, issue-based research related to these environmental stressors. As a first activity, EPA will provide each of the sites with the instrumen tation to monitor UV-B. The intent of the program is to initiate a con sistent air monitoring program at each sire to be followed by consiste nt monitoring within other media. The project will initiate research p rojects at all the sites (eventually) to examine the effects of enviro nmental stressors of importance at each of the sites.