Most natural resource trustees are natural resource and land managers. Carrying out these responsibilities requires expertise in disciplines such as biological sciences, chemistry, hydrology, geology, range/timber/wildlife/fisheries management, and park/recreation management.
As resource managers, trustees want to avoid injury to their trust resources.
Staff with scientific expertise and knowledge of trustee resources are good sources of information for assisting On-Scene Coordinators in identifying and deciding on protection priorities of sensitive resources.
By participating in both preparedness and response activities, trustees can help minimize injury to natural resources, which has the additional benefit of reducing the ultimate cost of an incident to the responsible party.
Trustees are often on-scene relatively early in response activities, to begin natural resource damage assessment work. Information that trustees gather for natural resource damage assessment purposes can be useful to the On-Scene Coordinator in making response decisions.