Adaptive management was originally advanced as a way to accelerate the rate of learning from the outcomes of management by applying the principles of experimental design to the implementation of management practices on the landscape. When applying management to real landscapes embedded in unique political and social environments, it quickly became clear that adaptive management at a landscape scale would need to involve not only scientists and professional resource managers but also a diverse group of individuals and organizations with a stake in the outcomes of management and knowledge, experience and resources to contribute. When adaptive management becomes collaborative adaptive management (CAM) there is potential for additional and different types of learning to occur, including social learning. Social learning has been defined both as a process of collective self-reflection through interaction and dialogue among diverse participants, and as an outcome--a change in understanding that results from social interactions among members of a group. As both process and outcome, social learning has been touted as a benefit of CAM. This presentation explores the relationship between learning and adaptive management with an emphasis on social learning, examines evidence for the hypothesis that CAM promotes social learning, and proposes best practices for reaping the benefits of social learning from collaborative adaptive management.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.