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Making science high impact to inform decision-making: Using boundary objects for aquatic research
Citation:
Hoffman, J. AND K. Williams. Making science high impact to inform decision-making: Using boundary objects for aquatic research. 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting, Portland, OR, February 11 - 16, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Areas of Concern (AOCs) are areas within the Great Lakes that have lost beneficial uses associated with coastal ecosystems owing to legacy contamination and land uses. At EPA, the term Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) is used to describe an approach that seeks to maximize the public benefit from clean-up and restoration projects. Here, we discuss how the concept of ecosystem services can be used to connect researchers from different disciplines with community decision-makers at different level of government to help R2R2R decision-making.
Description:
The St. Louis River represents a complex natural resource management problem. Current ecosystem management decisions must address extensive sediment remediation and habitat restoration goals for the lower river and associated port, as well as recreational users who value different characteristics of the ecosystem depending on their preferred use. We are addressing this complex problem using the concept of ecosystem services as a boundary object to integrate management goals and ecological benefits to the community. Our objective has been to conduct cooperative research (especially data co-production) with state, city, and community partners to develop approaches and tools to evaluate sediment contaminant remediation and aquatic habitat restoration goals. We will present an integrated decision-making framework for incorporating cooperative research, agency and community decision-making, and community benefits. We propose that the concept of ecosystem services can serve in transdisciplinary research to support a broad range of user groups and diverse environmental management goals.