Identify the Environmental Resources at Your Airport
Every airport is different, and identifying the environmental resources that are present on your airport is the first step in understanding the regulatory framework that applies to each resource, and the agencies responsible for managing those resources. Once you know your resources and applicable regulations, you will be able to communicate your airport’s environmental practices and compliance strategies more effectively.
As described in Understanding NEPA and Environmental Planning, FAA identifies the specific environmental resources that must be managed at airports and the federal laws that apply to these resources. But not all resources identified by FAA occur at every airport. In addition, some airports may have regulated environmental resources that FAA does not specifically identify in its guidance, such as species of state or local importance.
A document titled Airport Environmental Resource Checklist is provided as a tool in this section. It presents a checklist to help you identify the resources that may be present at your airport. The checklist was created for this toolkit using the resources identified by FAA in its environmental compliance guidance at FAA Order 1050.1F. Also, the FAA Order 1050.1F Desk Reference may be helpful in completing the Environmental Resource Checklist because it includes links to the appropriate chapter of the Desk Reference.
While some of the environmental resources identified may be readily visible to you, such as ponds or creeks, others may not. To determine whether environmental resources are present, you may need to gather information from professionals and previous reports such as:
- Your airport’s planning division, or the planning division for the city or county in which your airport is located.
- Your airport’s engineering or design department, or the Engineer Department or Public Works Department for the city or county in which your airport is located.
- Previous environmental documents prepared for your airport, such as environmental reports or assessments.
Five of the topics identified above are addressed directly in other sections of this toolkit:
For all of the environmental topics covered by NEPA, the resources listed here and in the tool all provide links for more information.
For all of the environmental topics covered by NEPA, the Airport Environmental Resource Checklist provides links for more information.