A Structured Framework for Adaptive Management: Bridging Theory and Practice in the Olympic Experimental State Forest

• Published in: Forest science Vol. 66; no. 4; pp. 478 - 489
• Main Authors: Minkova, Teodora V, Arnold, Jennifer S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: US Oxford University Press 01.08.2020
• Subjects: Adaptive management; Context; Decision making; Ecosystems; Forest management; Forests; Hypotheses; Land management; Land use planning; Leadership; Learning; Management planning; Managers; Mathematical models; Natural resource management; Natural resources; Organizational aspects; Organizational structure; Organizations; Questions; Regional planning; Resource management; Social factors; Uncertainty; Canada; United States > US; Pacific Northwest; learning; modeling; communication; uncertainties; forest management
• ISSN: 0015-749X; 1938-3738
• DOI: 10.1093/forsci/fxz011

Abstract Adaptive management is a systematic approach to learning from outcomes to improve management. Although its virtues are commonly praised, it has been implemented infrequently in natural resource management because of the challenges of developing a feasible process that can be sustained over time. Our analysis of regional experiences from private, state, and federal lands in the Pacific Northwest (United States and Canada) finds that the questions addressed by private organizations tend to be more specific, associated with a narrower scope of uncertainties, and addressed in a shorter time frame with limited stakeholder involvement. On publicly managed lands, questions tend to be more complex and open-ended, usually driven by their mandate for multiple use and high level of stakeholder engagement. We present a structured adaptive management framework that translates theory into action by describing an implementation process and organizational structure, explicitly linking learning to management planning and implementation, and integrating the technical and social aspects of adaptive management. Forest managers and policymakers can customize our example according to their mandate and management objectives. The framework is particularly relevant to land management for multiple uses, where the uncertainties are abundant and complex, and the decisionmakers increasingly use mathematical modeling to inform their decisions.