The U.S. Geological Survey, Status and Trends Program is offering two free short courses, designed for resource managers, which are open to all who are interested. They will be taught using a conference call / voice over IP (VoIP) format with live web demonstrations and will be recorded for later study.
Register for these courses
Questions? Contact Paul Geissler by email or at 970.226.9482
Courses:
Natural Resource Monitoring Survey Design (April 20-23, 2009)
Presented by Drs. Steve Garman, Paul Geissler, Kurt Jenkins, John Sauer, Dave Smith, and Andrea Woodward
Effective stewardship of natural resources requires monitoring to assess the condition of the resources and to detect threats in time to take effective action. We will give examples where monitoring provided critical information for resource managers, examples of statistical blunders as a consequence of poor survey design, and experiences and case studies of sampling vegetation and birds. There will be a basic introduction to sampling, using online exercises. We will describe situations where it is advantageous to use different sampling techniques including: stratification (dividing the population into relatively homogenous areas), cluster sampling (measuring several subplots or using transects), double sampling (using an inexpensive preliminary sample to stratify the sample), and adaptive sampling (taking more samples near where a rare species is fund). Procedures for projecting the necessary sample size and optimal allocation of samples to strata and clusters will be discussed. A simulation program will allow participants to model their area, and to try and compare alternative sampling designs. Random, systematic, grid and GRTS sampling will be compared. Changes in the detectability of individuals may be interpreted as population changes. We will present methods of estimating and adjusting for differences in detectability to avoid biases and indefensible estimates, and discuss the sampling bird populations considering detectability.
Adaptive Management of Natural Resources (May 4-8, 2009)
Presented by Drs. Jim Nichols, Mike Runge and Julien Martin
It designed to expose scientists and managers to the basic components and process of adaptive management. This approach is relevant to any sort of management decision that is repeated over time and may be useful in some cases with spatially replicated, one-time decisions. We begin with a discussion of structured decision making, an umbrella process of which adaptive management is a special case. We then focus on the key elements of structured decision making and adaptive management: objectives, potential management actions, models of system behavior, optimization methods, and monitoring programs. We discuss approaches for selecting appropriate objectives and show how general objectives can be formalized into explicit objective functions. We discuss management actions for different classes of problems. We describe the development of models designed to project the consequences of the potential management actions on system behavior. We will briefly discuss optimization methods to identify decisions that are optimal with respect to the management objectives. Because estimates of system state are typically needed for informed management, we provide a general approach to developing a monitoring program, as well as discuss the specific roles of resulting data in the decision process. Finally, we show how these components combine in the adaptive management process. We argue that this process is ideal for management in the face of uncertainty and provides a natural mechanism for the conduct of science useful to management. Throughout the course, we will illustrate general approaches and concepts with a specific application involving possible management of disturbance of nesting golden eagles in Denali National Park.
