Why adaptive management

As another example, a definition for adaptive management was provided in an applied context in a final rule governing compensatory mitigation for losses of aquatic resources for activities authorized by permits issued by the Department of the Army. See U. House-passed H. The draft standards were published in December and were recently reviewed by the National Research Council.

The Northwest Forest Plan is an integrated, comprehensive design for ecosystem management, intergovernmental and public collaboration, and rural community economic assistance for federal forests in the Northwestern U. The five steps include "scoping", "watershed assessment", "synthesis", "management solutions", and adaptive management.

Donald F. Boesch, et. Boesch, Patricia N. Manley, and Tehodore S. This program is discussed in more detail in Appendix. In the case of Glen Canyon, the Secretary of Interior has accepted most of the committee's recommendations to date. See Appendix for a detailed description of this process.

These summaries are made for broad comparative purposes and are not meant to be exhaustive. Some contend that operations of Glen Canyon dam can have a negative effect on multiple species, including the endangered humpback chub. See for example, National Research Council , pp For general lessons learned by those involved in the program itself, see Dennis M. Lawrence Susskind, Alejandro E.

In a report, the Roles Ad Hoc Group outlined many similar concerns. See generally, Alejandro E. Joseph M. In her initial memo to the chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group, DOI Assistant Secretary Castle noted that she expects phase 2 of this process developing quantifiable goals to be difficult.

David M. Mary Doyle and Cynthia A. The four stated objectives are: 1 improve production of Interior Least Terns and Piping Plovers from the central Platte River; 2 improve survival of Whooping Cranes during migration; 3 avoid adverse impacts from actions on Pallid Sturgeon populations; 4 provide benefits to other species that use the Platte River and reduce the likelihood of listing those species. The two hypotheses are classified as: 1 flow-sediment mechanical which uses water flows to rehabilitate the river and 2 mechanical creation and maintenance which uses mechanical means, such as bringing in off-channel sand and water to rehabilitate the river.

To date, this has happened only once. All other major actions by the Governance Committee, including the original adaptive management plan, were approved by consensus. This may be due to a number of reasons, including the higher profile nature of the GCAMWG resulting from its relationship to the Grand Canyon ecosystem, as well as the limited implementation of actual efforts on the ground for the Platte program, including science and monitoring efforts.

To date, the one item to come to vote involved the state of Colorado amending its depletions plan from the original plan. August 26, A Biological Opinion is a written statement analyzing whether a proposed agency action is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a listed species or to destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. September 17, The stakeholders include six federal and state agencies, six tribes, and 36 cities and water and power authorities.

For actions without a federal nexus i. An applicant for a permit is to submit a habitat conservation plan HCP that shows the likely impact of the planned action; steps taken to minimize and mitigate the impact; funding for the mitigation; alternatives considered and rejected; and any other measures the Secretary may require 50 C. It also lays out the process for conducting adaptive management under the program.

The Steering Committee consists of 35 members, including five representatives each from the following entities: Department of the Interior, Arizona, California, Nevada, Indian Tribes, environmental organizations, and other private or public entities. Some contemplated changed circumstances include failure to provide essential habitat for one or more covered species; insufficient water availability for habitat; loss of marsh and woody habitat due to floods; loss of fish in rearing facilities; failure of fish augmentation techniques to meet population goals; toxic spill in the conservation area; and future listing of a non-covered species.

Some remedial measures include creating new habitat and increasing fish numbers through alternative techniques; as well as prioritizing the distribution of available water among habitats in situations of water scarcity. For example, the measures do not specify if additional water will be procured if it is needed for habitat requirements of covered species.

Fish and Wildlife Service, U. Hereafter known as the AM Strategy. The Corps defines the circumstances under which a project change requires additional authority in Engineering Regulation Hereafter known as the AM Integration Guide. Alfred R. Lance Gunderson and Stephen S. Topic Areas About Donate. Adaptive Management for Ecosystem Restoration: Analysis and Issues for Congress March 4, R Adaptive management is the process of incorporating new scientific and programmatic information into the implementation of a project or plan to ensure that the goals of the activity are being reached efficiently.

Download PDF. Download EPUB. Topic areas Energy Policy American Law. Appendixes Appendix. Case Studies and Maps. Summary Adaptive management is the process of incorporating new scientific and programmatic information into the implementation of a project or plan to ensure that the goals of the activity are being reached efficiently.

Introduction Adaptive management is the process of incorporating new scientific and programmatic information into the implementation of a project or plan to ensure that the goals of the activity are being reached efficiently. Background: Concept of Adaptive Management The concept of adaptive management was applied to natural resource management in the early s to help managers take action on conservation issues in the face of uncertainty and when unforeseen conditions or changes in managed ecosystems appeared.

Generalized Model for Implementing Adaptive Management The implementation of adaptive management in ecosystem restoration initiatives can be a complex process, and there is no general consensus on one standard model of adaptive management. There are several components that generally make up an adaptive management program, including: Objectives for restoration.

A program or project needs targets or goals to be adaptively managed. For some initiatives, this may simply be a broad desired outcome, while others may utilize quantitative goals or objectives set for intervals e. Model s of the system being managed. One or more models may offer insight into fundamental processes.

These models may in turn be informed by additional monitoring or experimentation and inform project or management regimes see below. Scientific experimentation and monitoring. Experiments test a range of approaches to achieving goals periodically during the implementation of the program or project. Monitoring is used to measure the effectiveness of individual projects as well as overall progress toward achieving goals.

Management options. A range of management options that achieve or contribute to achieving objectives is necessary to conduct adaptive management. These options may be complimentary or in competition with one another, and provide an outlet for experimentation and monitoring.

Stakeholder input. Many adaptive management programs incorporate some level of stakeholder input into their processes. For example, stakeholders can serve on committees that identify projects and programs that are to be adaptively managed and on committees that evaluate the results of adaptive management and make recommendations to decision-makers.

Mechanism to incorporate change. Once adaptive management has produced results or preliminary recommendations, a policy or mechanism for implementing changes is necessary. This can be in several forms, including unilateral decision-making, committee votes, or authorizing legislation.

This sequence includes: Assessing the problem Designing the adaptive management framework e. Other Agencies Projects and programs directed by other agencies also incorporate various forms of adaptive management. Analysis and Lessons Learned Observers note both benefits and difficulties resulting from federal efforts to implement adaptive management in a natural resource management context.

Potential Benefits of Implementing Adaptive Management Adaptive management is being used in ecosystem restoration initiatives to address the uncertainties associated with the complex and integrated nature of ecosystems and their restoration. Adaptive management can commence with the early stages of a restoration initiative when scientific and programmatic uncertainties about the ecosystem and restoration process exist.

Some policymakers may be reluctant to endorse a restoration initiative if there is uncertainty about how effective restoration projects will be or if there is uncertainty about conditions and processes associated with the ecosystem and species. The flexibility of adaptive management may address some of these concerns. Potential to deal with changing circumstances over large time periods. Some restoration initiatives have planned durations extending over significant time horizons extending out to 50 years or more in the future.

During these periods, significant unforeseen shifts in the ecosystem can occur due to changing climatic conditions, species composition, and habitat alteration. Adaptive management can provide a formal process for addressing these uncertainties and building flexibility into the restoration plan over time.

Creation of formal monitoring networks and processes. While traditional management frameworks often require limited or no monitoring networks, adaptive management requires a monitoring program to track the progress of restoration.

This monitoring can help provide consistent, basic information about an ecosystem over time that would not have been noted otherwise. Increasing stakeholder buy-in. If the adaptive management process has an avenue for formal stakeholder participation, then stakeholders can provide input into what changes are desirable from their perspective. Additionally, stakeholder participation can provide societal and cultural inputs to the process through performance measures.

Participation can increase stakeholder engagement and provide opportunities to keep abreast of changes. Ability to serve as an oversight tool for ecosystem restoration initiatives. The process of adaptive management ideally stimulates processes which inform reflection on the overall progress toward a program's goals.

This includes monitoring and evaluation of data and assessment of which strategies are most effective. By providing a central vehicle for the multiple stages of restoration, adaptive management has the potential to also facilitate oversight of these efforts.

Ability to generate fundamental information about the ecosystem being restored. The natural processes in many ecosystems undergoing restoration are largely unknown. The process of active adaptive management can be used to obtain a better understanding of how an ecosystem functions. In turn, this may help construct models that reflect ecosystem processes and project future responses. Potential Difficulties of Implementing Adaptive Management Despite limited successes implementing adaptive management, there have also been difficulties implementing the concept.

A summary of these issues includes: Connecting experimentation to operational changes. Some managers note that linking science and experimentation to operational changes is one of the biggest challenges for adaptive management going forward.

Some suggest this is partially due to deficiencies in the linkages between planning, assessments, and outcomes of adaptive management decision-making. Adaptive management does not alter the fact that traditional regulatory or political channels must be considered when implementing major changes.

Failure to resolve fundamental value conflicts. Adaptive management is often proposed as a tool to resolve resource management conflicts, but its ability to solve major issues has limitations. Ideally, the concept uses science to determine an optimal pathway for a project or program to achieve restoration. However, scientific conclusions are rarely unequivocal and may be understood differently among various stakeholders. In these cases, adaptive management may be attempted, but positions and value-judgments may be entrenched and consensus difficult to reach.

DOI's Technical Guide states that in instances in which stakeholders cannot agree on fundamental issues such as objectives, adaptive management should not be employed. An inherent issue for many adaptive management programs is their flexibility to implement changes to a program or project that is not working.

The flexibility of adaptive management programs can be limited by several factors. For example, initial assurances or the perception of assurances to stakeholders can limit the scope of changes.

These assurances can be legal e. Additionally, flexibility of a program can also be limited by funding e. Some have criticized the goals of adaptive management programs for a number of reasons, including a general lack of goals, vague or undefined goals, or goals that are irreconcilable. Without defined goals, it is difficult to monitor progress or measure success of an adaptive management effort. Use of uncertainty as a means to delay action. Adaptive management often highlights areas of uncertainty, and the results of adaptive management experiments are rarely unequivocal.

This can lead stakeholders or managers to call for more experimentation and testing of alternatives before a path to restoration can begin. Ultimately, this may create delays in decision making for a program or project. Other Lessons Learned When utilizing adaptive management to implement or oversee ecosystem restoration, a number of issues may arise. Complexity and Timing of Adaptive Management The complexity of issues and timing of implementation for adaptive management are important factors that vary among individual projects.

Leadership of Adaptive Management Initiatives Responsibility for leadership and coordination for adaptive management initiatives varies among initiatives. Decision Rules Some note that a key component for an adaptive management effort is the "decision rule," or the rule s that determines the procedure for final recommendations by a governance body. Objectives and Milestones Numerous sources have noted that a lack of clearly defined objectives and milestones can be problematic for implementing adaptive management.

Balancing Flexibility and Certainty Ecosystem restoration initiatives with an adaptive management process have to strike a balance between allowing the adaptive management process enough flexibility to be effective and providing enough certainty to stakeholders to make long-term decisions about using and conserving resources. These mechanisms include: Anticipating foreseen circumstances and creating mitigation plans. It helps managers maintain flexibility in their decisions, knowing that uncertainties exist and so provides the latitude to adjust direction to improve progress towards desired outcomes.

More information on the wider decision-making environment within which such approaches can flourish are provided from the adaptation and governance pages in this section, and the social learning section. GLAM was envisioned as a globally networked learning alliance to identify, operationalise and promote rigorous evidence-based approaches to adaptive management AM. GLAM aimed to provide tailored guidance and practical support on AM to practitioners and policymakers, generate high-quality evidence and learning about effective monitoring, evaluation and learning MEL for AM MEL4AM , and act as a catalyst, champion and convenor to change thinking and practice.

The use of management to reduce both kinds of uncertainty is known as double-loop learning. This paper describes a framework for institutional learning that is complementary to that of technical learning, including uncertainty metrics, propagation of change, and mechanisms and consequences of change over time. Adaptive management Adaptive management is a procedure for implementing management while learning about which management actions are most effective at achieving specified objectives.

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Your comments required Tell us what you liked about the page or how it could be improved. They come up with procedures and processes to ensure things are done properly. Yet many project managers feel that additional organisational requirements make implementation slower and more difficult. According to the International Centre for Complex Project Management , projects are becoming complex not because of size, cost and duration, or the challenge of integrating advances in technology.

Translating adaptive management to creativity and innovation will require an inclusive culture and collaborative environment, adequate investment, and human capital development strategy for creative minds and passion of people with a purpose.

Cover picture: Pixabay. Uraguchi — May Practice 2: Consistently navigating complexity Simply put, this means the ability to change strategies, plans and activities quickly in response to new information or signal to become more effective.