Lessons Learned
This paper and web page [in progress] will ultimately be designed to capture and summarize lessons learned over the course of Network meetings and discussions.
Koehler, C. and E. Blair. 2001. Putting It Back Together: Making Ecosystem Restoration Work. Save San Francisco Bay Association, Oakland, California. [Case studies of major ecosystem restoration initiatives including the Everglades, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware River Commission, San Francisco Bay-Delta, Upper Great Lakes, and Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program.]
Blann, K. 2003. Science, institutions, and stakeholders: Lessons from Implementation of Adaptive Management in Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, Symposium: Human Interaction with Aquatic Systems: How Knowledge of Aquatic Systems Impacts Individual and Institutional Action. Society for Conservation Biology, Duluth, MN June 29-July 2, 2003.
Van Cleve, F., Brie, Charles Simenstad, Fred Goetz, and Tom Mumford. 2003. Application of Best Available Science in Ecosystem Restoration: Lessons Learned from Large-scale Restoration Efforts in the U.S. Product of the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project Nearshore Science Team.
Organizational Learning: Adaptive Management for Salmon Conservation Conference Proceedings. University of Washington, Olympic Natural Resources Center, Forks, WA Papers by William Clark, Steve Daniels, George Stankey, Robert Lackey, and others.
Stankey, G.H.; Bornmann, B.T.; Ryan, C.; Shindler, B.; Sturtevant, V.; Clark, R.N.; Philpot, C. 2003. Adaptive Management and the Northwest Forest Plan: rhetoric and reality. Journal of Forestry. 101(1): 40-46.
Case Studies:
Evolution of Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park
Science, Institutions, and Stakeholders: Lessons from Implementation of Adaptive Management
Although the concept of adaptive management has been around for over two decades, successes in implementing adaptive management have been harder to come by, particularly at the larger ecosystem scales required for effective conservation. Significant barriers often materialize as part of controversial ecosystem restoration efforts. Agency cultures, narrowly defined missions, fear of lawsuits, legal constraints, and unequally distributed political and personal risk all serve to mitigate against implementation. We argue that it may be infeasible to implement adaptive management without simultaneously attending to the institutional, organizational, and political arenas in which management must be conducted. Lessons are presented from workshops with scholars and practitioners involved in restoration efforts in the Kissimmee River, the Everglades, the Colorado River, the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and the Upper Mississippi River. Strategies for overcoming barriers include reorganizing institutional arrangements to support linked decision-making, expanding informal communication, and developing shared understanding among the wider community, both of ecosystem function and social values. Broadening the base of input for identifying uncertainties, problem scoping, evaluation, and decision-making also plays a key role in redefining relationships, building a constituency to weather challenges, and allowing for creative alternatives to be identified and pursued.
Discussion Notes: Lessons Learned from Adaptive Management Experiments and Exercises