Toward an Integrated Classification of Ecosystems: Defining Opportunities for Managing Fish and Forest Health

/ Many of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest United States have been simplified and degraded in part through past land-management activities. Recent listings of fishes under the Endangered Species Act and major new initiatives for the restoration of forest health have precipitated contentious debate among managers and conservation interests in the region. Because aggressive management activities proposed for forest restoration may directly affect watershed processes and functions, the goals of aquatic and terrestrial conservation and restoration are generally viewed as in conflict. The inextricable links in ecological processes and functions, however, suggest the two perspectives should really represent elements of the same problem; that of conserving and restoring more functional landscapes. We used recent information on the status and distribution of forest and fish communities to classify river subbasins across the region and explore the potential conflict and opportunity for a more integrated view of management. Our classification indicated that there are often common trends in terrestrial and aquatic communities that highlight areas of potential convergence in management goals. Regions where patterns diverge may emphasize the need for particular care and investment in detailed risk analyses. Our spatially explicit classification of subbasin conditions provides a mechanism for progress in three areas that we think is necessary for a more integrated approach to management: (1) communication among disciplines; (2) effective prioritization of limited conservation and restoration resources; and (3) a framework for experimentation and demonstration of commitment and untested restoration techniques.     

An Ecological and Economic Assessment Methodology for Coastal Ecosystem Management

An adaptation of the Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response methodology is presented in this work. The differential DPSIR (ΔDPSIR) was developed to evaluate impacts on the coastal environment and as a tool for integrated ecosystem management. The aim of the ΔDPSIR is to provide scientifically-based information required by managers and decision-makers to evaluate previously adopted policies, as well as future response scenarios. The innovation of the present approach is to provide an explicit link between ecological and economic information related to the use and management of a coastal ecosystem within a specific timeframe. The application of ΔDPSIR is illustrated through an analysis of developments in a Southwest European coastal lagoon between 1985 and 1995. The value of economic activities dependent on the lagoon suffered a significant reduction (ca. −60%) over that period, mainly due to a decrease in bivalve production. During that decade the pressures from the catchment area were managed (ca. 176 million Euros), mainly through the building of waste water treatment plants. Notwithstanding this, the ecosystem state worsened with respect to abnormal clam mortalities due to a parasite infection and to benthic eutrophication symptoms in specific problematic areas. The negative economic impacts during the decade were estimated between −565 and −315 million Euros, of which 9–49% represent the cost of environmental externalities. Evaluation of these past events indicates that future management actions should focus on reducing the limitation on local clam seeds, which should result in positive impacts to both the local socio-economy and biodiversity.     

A Vegetation-Based Method for Ecological Diagnosis of Riverine Wetlands

/ The management of riverine wetlands, recognized as a major component of biodiversity in fluvial hydrosystems, is problematic. Preservation or restoration of such ecosystems requires a method to assess the major ecological processes operating in the wetlands, the sustainability of the aquatic stage, and the restoration potential of each riverine wetland. We propose a method of diagnosis based on aquatic macrophytes and helophytes. Plant communities are used because they are easy to survey and provide information about (1) the origin of a water supply (i.e., groundwater, seepage, or surface river water) and its nutrient content, (2) effects of flood disturbances, and (3) terrestrialization processes. The novelty of the method is that, in contrast to available typologies, it is based on the interference of gradients resulting from several processes, which makes it possible to predict wetland sustainability and restoration potential. These predictions result from knowledge of the processes involved in terrestrialization, i.e., the influence of flood disturbances, occurrence of groundwater supplies, trophic degree, and water permanency of the habitat during a yearly cycle. The method is demonstrated on five different river systems.     

Defining Acceptable Levels for Ecological Indicators: An Approach for Considering Social Values

Ecological indicators can facilitate an adaptive management approach, but only if acceptable levels for those indicators have been defined so that the data collected can be interpreted. Because acceptable levels are an expression of the desired state of the ecosystem, the process of establishing acceptable levels should incorporate not just ecological understanding but also societal values. The goal of this research was to explore an approach for defining acceptable levels of ecological indicators that explicitly considers social perspectives and values. We used a set of eight indicators that were related to issues of concern in the Lake Champlain Basin. Our approach was based on normative theory. Using a stakeholder survey, we measured respondent normative evaluations of varying levels of our indicators. Aggregated social norm curves were used to determine the level at which indicator values shifted from acceptable to unacceptable conditions. For seven of the eight indicators, clear preferences were interpretable from these norm curves. For example, closures of public beaches because of bacterial contamination and days of intense algae bloom went from acceptable to unacceptable at 7–10 days in a summer season. Survey respondents also indicated that the number of fish caught from Lake Champlain that could be safely consumed each month was unacceptably low and the number of streams draining into the lake that were impaired by storm water was unacceptably high. If indicators that translate ecological conditions into social consequences are carefully selected, we believe the normative approach has considerable merit for defining acceptable levels of valued ecological system components.     

Guidelines and Techniques for Improving the NEPA Process

/ The Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ's) principal aims in implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are (1) to reduce paperwork, (2) to avoid delay, and most importantly (3) to produce better decisions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment. This paper presents four strategies for improving the NEPA process along with tools that can be used to implement each strategy. The tools include guidelines for project management and problem definition, tips for acquiring existing information and identifying issues of public concern, worksheets on how to identify and analyze potential impacts on resources, ideas for enhancing NEPA documents, and a NEPA process checklist. The tools can be used at various stages of the NEPA process and provide a toolbox of guidelines and techniques to improve implementation of the NEPA process by focusing the pertinent information for decisionmakers and stakeholders. KEY WORDS: National Environmental Policy Act; NEPA; Environmental impact assessment; Ecosystem management     

An Integrated Framework for Public Sector Environmental Management in Developing Countries

/ Achieving successful and well-integrated environmental management depends on principled and orderly assignment of responsibilities within and between public sector organizations. Guidelines for making these assignments can be found by considering different modes of public response in light of a framework based on some distinguishable patterns in the complexity they exhibit. The basic dimensions of environmental problems can be used to identify these patterns. Two examples from current environmental problems in Taiwan are given, illustrating how this framework can be put to use.     

An approach for integrating economic impact analysis into the evaluation of potential marine protected area sites

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one tool that can be used in the comprehensive management of human activities in areas of the ocean. Although researchers have supported using MPAs as an ecosystem management tool, scientific research on MPAs in areas other than fisheries and fisheries management is limited. This paper presents a model for designing marine protected areas that protect important components of the ecosystem while minimizing economic impacts on local communities. This model combines conservation principles derived specifically for the marine environment with economic impact assessment. This integrated model allows for consideration of both fishery and non-fishery resources and activities such as shipping and recreational boating. An illustration of the model is presented that estimates the total economic impacts on Massachusetts' coastal counties of restricting fishing and shipping at certain sites in an area in the southern Gulf of Maine. The results suggest that the economic impacts on the region would differ according to the site in which shipping and fishing were restricted. Restricting activities in certain sites may have considerable impacts on local communities. The use of the model for evaluating and comparing potential MPA sites is illustrated through an evaluation of three different policy scenarios. The scenarios demonstrate how the model could be used to achieve different goals for managing resources in the region: protecting important components of the ecosystem, minimizing economic impacts on the local region, or a combination of the two.     

Developing a collaborative model for environmental planning and management

Methods for involving the public in natural resource management are changing as agencies adjust to an increasingly turbulent social and political environment. There is growing interest among managers and scholars in collaborative approaches to public involvement. Collaboration is conceptually defined and elaborated using examples from the natural resource management field. This paper then examines how collaboration theory from the organizational behavior field can help environmental managers to better understand those factors that facilitate and inhibit collaborative solutions to resource problems. A process-oriented model is presented that proposes that collaboration emerges out of an environmental context and then proceeds sequentially through a problem-setting, direction-setting, and structuring phase. Factors constraining collaboration are also specified, including organizational culture and power differentials. Designs for managing collaboration are identified, which include appreciative planning, joint agreements, dialogues, and negotiated settlements. Environmental managers need new skills to manage collaboration within a dynamic social and political environment. Further research is needed to test the propositions outlined here.     

Fuzzy assessment of land suitability for scientific research reserves

Evaluating the characteristics of a set of sites as potential scientific research reserves is an example of land suitability assessment. Suitability in this case is based upon multiple criteria, many of which can be linguistically imprecise and often incompatible. Fuzzy logic is a useful method for characterizing imprecise suitability criteria and for combining criteria into an overall suitability rating. The Ecosystem Management Decision Support software combined a fuzzy logic knowledge base we developed to represent the assessment problem with a GIS database providing site-specific data for the assessment. Assessment of sites as a potential natural reserve for the new University of California campus at Merced demonstrates the benefits of fuzzy suitability assessment. The study was conducted in three stages of successively smaller assessment regions with increasingly fine spatial resolution and specificity of criteria. Several sites were identified that best satisfy the suitability criteria for a reserve to represent vernal pool habitat.