Adaptive Management

Adaptive Management is a structured approach to resource management. Through this iterative process, managers and scientists team together to improve resource management over time by learning from management outcomes. Adaptive Management entails a multi-step process:

1. Considering various actions to meet management objectives;

2. Predicting the outcomes of these management actions based on what is currently known;

3. Implementing management actions;

4. Monitoring to observe the results of those actions; and

5. Using the results to update knowledge and adjust future management actions accordingly.

By repeating this cycle and increasing to the body of knowledge about the system in question, managers are able to refine their prescriptions to more closely meet the original objectives.

USGS biology scientists cooperate with the Fish and Wildlife Service and local land management agencies to develop strategies and tools for adaptive management and implement them in practice. See a selection of resources demonstrating USGS research expertise in this area:

Adaptive Management at PWRC: Past, Present and Future. PowerPoint. Download the File. (89 KB, PDF) (PWRC) - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) researchers J.D. Nichols, M.C. Runge, W.L. Kendall, and C.T. Moore explain the advantages of the adaptive management approach over the common two-step approach to management/conservation in the complex process of informed-decision making on natural resource management issues. The presentation also describes samples of PWRC work on applying adaptive management approach for FWS refugees, continental waterfowl management, and endangered species.

Designing Monitoring Programs in an Adaptive Management Context for Regional Multiple Species Conservation Plans - This document provides a step-by-step procedure for developing effective monitoring programs in an adaptive management context. The guidance provided here has been gleaned
from experience with large multiple species plans in southern California.  Included are practical examples and insights from programs in southern California and discuss the evolution of monitoring and adaptive management programs through three successive stages.

New Frontier In Migratory Bird Conservation. Fact Sheet. Download the File. (260 KB, PDF) (PWRC) - Since 1999 Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) has assumed a special role in developing innovative scientific tools needed for effective conservation programs based on adaptive management strategies. The center focuses on evaluation tools for State and Federal managers to assess the effectiveness of their efforts in migratory bird conservation.

Public Access Management as an Adaptive Wildlife Management Tool. USGS Open-File Report. Download the File. (1168 KB, PDF) (FORT) - Preliminary report from 2005 by Douglas Ouren and Raymond Watts of the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) on an adaptive management project, which brought together all agencies responsible for the management of elk (Cervus elaphus) and elk habitat in the Gunnison River Valley of Colorado. The study investigated the relationship between human motorized vehicle and trail use and elk movements and habitat use.

Southeastern Adaptive Management Group "Partnerships for Sustaining Wildlife Populations" (FISC) - Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) in Gainesville has institutional arrangements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) pursuing the mission better integrate research and management to improve natural resource management decisions. The group also interacts closely with scientists and managers of other organizations that have expertise and interest in solving problems of natural resource management (USFWS Division of Migratory Birds, USFWS Southeast Region (also known as Region 4), USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and USGS Cooperative Research Units in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina).