Adaptive Management
Adaptive management - A new paradigm for managing our county's resources
The U.S. Geological Survey's Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center operates within the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program to define research objectives and develop monitoring programs to meet information needs of the program. The Center works with the Adaptive Management Working Group which consists of a diverse group of stakeholders, including: Department of Interior agencies (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service), Western Area Power Administration, Colorado River Basin States, Native American Tribes, Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, recreational users and environmental organizations.
Adaptive management has gained widespread acceptance in resource management since Holling (1978) developed the concept. Lee (1993) defines adaptive management with a simple imperative: "policies are experiments; learn from them." Other characteristics (as described by Nyberg 1998; Walters 1986; Taylor et al. 1997) include:
- A focus on ecosystems;
- Experimentation and manipulation of managed ecosystems;
- A time scale based on the biological generation or longer;
- Acknowledgement of uncertainty about what policy or practice is best for a particular management issue;
- Careful implementation of a plan of action designed to reveal the critical knowledge;
- Monitoring of key response indicators;
- Analysis of outcomes in consideration of original objectives; and
- Incorporation of results into future decisions.
The over arching goal of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program is to help the federal government understand the relationship between dam operations and the health of riverine systems so that it can the meet its resource management obligations under the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act, the 1995 Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement and the 1996 Record of Decision. The process begins with the identification of a series of management objectives defined by stakeholders and managers of the system and involves a feedback loop between the management action and the effect of that action on the system. It is an iterative process, based on a scientific paradigm that treats management actions as experiments subject to modification, rather than as fixed and final rulings, and uses them to develop an enhanced scientific understanding about whether or not and how the ecosystem responds to specific management actions.
An important interim step in this process is to allow for a dialogue between managers, stakeholders, and scientists who are knowledgeable about the system in question. Such a dialogue provides an opportunity for scientists to "reality-test" management objectives. That is, if managers wish to attempt to manage a system for a given outcome that is not feasible, it is important that they understand that at the outset. Experience has demonstrated that such a "scientific reality-testing" of management objectives leads to a better outcomes in the long-run. Bridging the culture between scientists, managers, and stakeholders takes commitment and effort.