Effect Pathway Manager (EPM): Building a Decision Support Tool for Consultation

Target Audience:

Endangered species biologists.

Summary and Objectives:

This course is intended for FWS biologists who work with the Effect Pathway Manger (EPM) within the services IPaC IPaC
Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC) is a project planning tool that streamlines the USFWS environmental review process

Learn more about IPaC system. Participants will work with EPM practitioners to learn the different tools within the system and practice the development of pathways within a learning environment. This class will prepare participants for the growing use of the EPM in FWS offices.

Upon Completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify what a Resource Needs (RN) is, the different components that constitute a RN, and be able to create Resource Needs for a species of your choice.
• Identify the EPM definition of an exposure path and be able to build activity specific stressors for a species of your choice.
• Identify the EPM definition of consequences and be able to create species responses and individual effects to an exposure path for a species of your choice.
• Identify the two parts that constitute a Conservation Measure (CM) in EPM and be able to apply CMs to an Effect Pathway.
• Be able to cite specific data elements in EPM.
• Be able to publish species specific data in EPM.

Competencies Addressed:

Computer Skills - Basic, Ecology - Basic, Applies Technology to Tasks - Basic, Information Assurance - Basic, System Integration - Basic