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Lessons Learned from the Everglades Collaborative Adaptive Management Program
Citation:
LoSchiavo, A., R. Best, R. Burns, S. Gray, M. Harwell, E. Hines, A. McLean, T. St. Clair, S. Traxler, AND J. Vearil. Lessons Learned from the Everglades Collaborative Adaptive Management Program. Presented at 5th National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration, Chicago, IL, July 29 - August 02, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
Document the progress and challenges faced during development and implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan adaptive management program.
Description:
Recent technical papers explore whether adaptive management (AM) is useful for environmental management and restoration efforts and discuss the many challenges to overcome for successful implementation, especially for large-scale restoration programs (McLain and Lee 1996; Levine 2004; Gunderson and Light 2006; Walters 2007; Ruhl and Fischman 2010; Doremus 2011). Few successful examples of large-scale AM applications are available because of the many logistical and technical challenges that arise with ecosystem management activities of this magnitude Examining where and how the components of an AM program have been successfully implemented may yield insight into what approaches have and have not worked, including what needs improvement. This presentation documents the progress and challenges faced during development and implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) AM program; additionally, the presentation identifies eight lessons learned including: 1) establishing a legislative authority for AM; 2) developing an applied science framework; 3) identifying AM champions, team roles and responsibilities; 4) understanding the governance structure; 5) integrating AM activities with existing institutional practices; 6) obtaining input from expert peer review; 7) defining uncertainties and management options matrices; and 8) exploring creative stakeholder engagement methods.