Rangeland Ecology & Management

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IMPLEMENTING ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
Author
Wiechman, Lief
Pyke, David A.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

Monitoring programs designed to track ecosystem changes in response to both stressors and disturbances can use repeated observations of ecosystem attributes. Such programs can increase our understanding of how interactions among resilience to disturbance, resistance to invasive species, and a suite of �change agents� (e.g., natural disturbances, management actions, or climate), influence resource condition (or status) and trends and subsequent outcomes of conservation and restoration actions. This type of monitoring information provides the basis for adaptive management. The overarching goals of an integrated monitoring and adaptive management program are to reduce the uncertainty in the effectiveness of management actions and to provide triggers that initiate modifications in management objectives, strategies, and actions to halt degradation before an environmental threshold is crossed. Such adaptive management works within the ecosystems resistances to invasive species and resilience from disturbances to allow ecosystem sustainability. An integrated monitoring and adaptive management program includes a series of steps that are repeated over time and are designed to facilitate �learning by doing�. We will provide an example of unintended consequences of �doing without knowing�, in which a lack of monitoring can result in unintended consequences and may result in additional resource expenditures down the road. We will present a 9-cell matrix that combines resilience and resistance information with that of modeled greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) breeding habitat � which, at a broad scale, can inform how treatment types, methods, and what the range of expected outcomes.� These concepts have the potential to sustain resources, especially in the long term, as resources allocations become limited.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV