The main responsibilities of the environmental assessors (they have been termed ‘Assessors’ to avoid confusion with the existing site ‘Inspectors’, who may also carry out some of the assessment described here) included:

Collection of information in a consistent and standardised manner from the maximum number of site locations possible;

Visual inspection, assessment and recording of requirements for erosion control measures and reinstatement at all sites visited including effectiveness of watercourse banks, steep slopes, ROW and areas prone to erosion reinstatement. This included the need for initial installation and the ongoing maintenance of them to ensure their continued effectiveness; 

Prioritisation of the work according to the vulnerability of the site and the urgency (especially during periods of rainfall and snowmelt) of the measures required by use expert judgement;

Use of expertise to collect field data from locations, and in a manner, that maximises its scientific and assessment value;

Data collection to include turbidity readings as appropriate, degree of gullying, landslips, bank collapse etc. and comprehensive photography;

Lliaison with the Site Focal Point and Starstroi Environmental Advisor to discuss the findings of the day and forthcoming workload.

Haskoning Sakhalin Assessment team was permanently in the field taking measurements and photographs, describing methods and techniques to be implemented and verifying satisfactory

work completion. All their field records were given to the Site Focal Point to be entered onto databases.

The ‘work orders’ generated by the Assessment team were passed to the Stastroi Environmental Advisor to enable deployment of the EC&R work teams to the areas with the highest priority.