Increasingly, range managers must make decisions under conditions of uncertainty about the effects of climate change and how other demographic, social, ecological, and economic changes will affect the vulnerability of lands, livestock, wildlife, and livelihoods. Social, economic, and political dimensions of decisions about resource management, climate adaptation and mitigation underscore the critical need for decision processes that engage affected parties in framing issues, accessing relevant knowledge, and reaching decisions. Uncertainty and potentially rapid shifts or high variability in environmental conditions require using a framework that effectively incorporates improving scientific information, monitoring, and learning through periodic reviews of decisions. Many tools are available to support different aspects of decisionmaking, including public engagement and consultation, fact finding, deliberation, valuation of potential outcomes, and monitoring/evaluation. This session will provide a brief overview and assessment of decision frameworks, tools, and processes to help improve range management and related decisions within contexts of uncertainty, complexity, and change.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.