DECISION ANALYSIS AS A FRAMEWORK FOR LINKING HUMAN VALUES TO WETLAND RESTORATION
Citation:
Martin, D. DECISION ANALYSIS AS A FRAMEWORK FOR LINKING HUMAN VALUES TO WETLAND RESTORATION. Conference on Great Lakes Research, Brockport, New York, June 10 - 14, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Decision-making methods are used to link science to human values for ecological restoration. This presentation explains the decision analysis process to evaluate social benefits indicator and estimate who could benefit from restoration and by how much. We utilized decision analysis in a case study on the Woonasquatucket River watershed, Rhode Island. We developed a decision support tool to help watershed managers decide which courses of action provide the most balanced social benefits of restoration.
Description:
Ecological restoration has traditionally been planned by evaluating ecosystem conditions, biodiversity, and production of ecosystem services. Decision analysis is an engagement process for analyzing decisions that links science to human values. I will present the general decision analysis framework using a collaborative case study in the Woonasquatucket River watershed, Rhode Island. Scientists at the U.S. EPA partnered with a watershed organization to prioritize dozens of candidate wetland restoration sites in terms of social equity and ecosystem service benefits, including potential flood protection, scenic landscapes, education, recreation, bird watching. We developed 24 indicators based on several site and landscape characteristics. We applied conceptual modeling and spatial analysis to estimate indicator values for each candidate restoration site. Lastly, we developed two decision support tools to quantitatively aggregate the indicator values and help the organization prioritize the restoration sites to fund restoration in the watershed. Results indicate that restoration sites in urban areas often can provide greater benefits to people than sites in less developed areas. This research provides an alternative way of planning for wetland restoration to that of traditional planning studies. I close by emphasizing the need for research into monitoring the social benefits of ecological restoration.