Leopold Matrix

The Leopold matrix is a qualitative environmental impact assessment method pioneered in 1971. It is used to identify the potential impact of a project on the environment. The system consists of a matrix with columns representing the various activities of the project, and rows representing the various environmental factors to be considered. The intersections are filled in to indicate the magnitude (from -10 to +10) and the importance (from 1 to 10) of the impact of each activity on each environmental factor.

Measurements of magnitude and importance tend to be related, but do not necessarily directly correlate. Magnitude can be measured, in terms of how much area is affected by the development and how badly, but importance is a more subjective measurement. While a proposed development may have a large impact in terms of magnitude, the effects it causes may not actually significantly affect the environment as a whole. The example given by Leopold is of a stream that significantly alters the erosion patterns in a specific area, which will have a significant magnitude, but may not be important, provided the stream in question is swift moving and transports large amounts of soil anyway. In this case, an impact of significant magnitude may not actually be important to the environment in question.