Community-based ecological monitoring - A rapid appraisal approach

Continuous natural resources monitoring is greatly needed so that public ag encies can make timely, cost-effective, and scientifically credible land ma nagement decisions and local communities can anticipate the effects of prop osed changes in land use. This article discusses how participatory, communi ty-based, rapid appraisal methods can be used to monitor riparian health an d educate the public, providing a practical solution to the need for commun ity-level knowledge of natural systems while complementing more detailed an alyses by professional scientists,