Catalyzing Collaboration: Wisconsin’s Agency-Initiated Basin Partnerships

Experience with collaborative approaches to natural resource and environmental management has grown substantially over the past 20 years, and multi-interest, shared-resources initiatives have become prevalent in the United States and internationally. Although often viewed as “grass-roots” and locally initiated, governmental participants are crucial to the success of collaborative efforts, and important questions remain regarding their appropriate roles, including roles in partnership initiation. In the midst of growing governmental support for collaborative approaches in the mid-1990s, the primary natural resource and environmental management agency in Wisconsin (USA) attempted to generate a statewide system of self-sustaining, collaborative partnerships, organized around the state’s river basin boundaries. The agency expected the partnerships to enhance participation by stakeholders, leverage additional resources, and help move the agency toward more integrated and ecosystem-based resource management initiatives. Most of the basin partnerships did form and function, but ten years after this initiative, the agency has moved away from these partnerships and half have disbanded. Those that remain active have changed, but continue to work closely with agency staff. Those no longer functioning lacked clear focus, were dependent upon agency leadership, or could not overcome issues of scale. This article outlines the context for state support of collaborative initiatives and explores Wisconsin’s experience with basin partnerships by discussing their formation and reviewing governmental roles in partnerships’ emergence and change. Wisconsin’s experience suggests benefits from agency support and agency responsiveness to partnership opportunities, but cautions about expectations for initiating general-purpose partnerships.     

Benefits of Collaborative Learning for Environmental Management: Applying the Integrated Systems for Knowledge Management Approach to Support Animal Pest Control

Resource management issues continually change over time in response to coevolving social, economic, and ecological systems. Under these conditions adaptive management, or “learning by doing,” offers an opportunity for more proactive and collaborative approaches to resolving environmental problems. In turn, this will require the implementation of learning-based extension approaches alongside more traditional linear technology transfer approaches within the area of environmental extension. In this paper the Integrated Systems for Knowledge Management (ISKM) approach is presented to illustrate how such learning-based approaches can be used to help communities develop, apply, and refine technical information within a larger context of shared understanding. To outline how this works in practice, we use a case study involving pest management. Particular attention is paid to the issues that emerge as a result of multiple stakeholder involvement within environmental problem situations. Finally, the potential role of the Internet in supporting and disseminating the experience gained through ongoing adaptive management processes is examined.     

城市规划环境影响评价中公众参与研究方法与案例

围绕规划环境影响评价中公众参与方案的有效性,以城市规划的环境影响评价为例,从城市规划和规划环境影响评价的特点出发,综合运用自上而下的分析手段和利益相关者研究方法,建立了城市规划环境影响评价开展公众调查的研究框架,将社会学调查方法有机地纳入规划环境影响评估方法学体系.以大连市城市发展规划环境影响评价为案例,讨论该研究框架在实践中的应用.     

Sex-biased costs in nest defence behaviours by lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens): consequences of parental roles?

Nest defence behaviours, such as attacking predators and defending against predator attacks, expose birds to risk of injury and death. However, direct costs of such behaviours are poorly documented. To evaluate potential costs of nest defence behaviours in lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens), we (1) estimated the proportion of interactions between arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) and geese that resulted in physical contact and (2) examined how nest defence behaviours varied between male and female geese. We separated interactions into attacks initiated by foxes (attacks by foxes) and attacks initiated by geese (attacks by geese). Risks associated with attacks by geese were considerably lower than the risks associated with attacks by foxes; only 1 of 1,179 attacks by geese resulted in physical contact between foxes and geese, whereas 26 of 89 attacks by foxes involved such contact (two female geese were killed during these attacks). Attacks by geese were made almost exclusively by male geese (>97%), whereas female geese were involved in 75% of all attacks by foxes that resulted in physical contact with geese. There was, thus, a considerable difference in risks associated with male and female nest defence behaviours. We suggest that parental roles during nesting (i.e., females incubate and males guard) expose female geese to greater risk of injury and death. Male geese may, however, reduce the risk of injury or death to their mates with pre-emptive attacks on foraging foxes.     

Daring females,devoted males,and reversed sexual size dimorphism in the sand-dwelling spider <Emphasis Type="Italic">Allocosa brasiliensis</Emphasis> (Araneae,Lycosidae)

Sexual selection theory predicts that a higher investment in offspring will turn females into the selective sex, while males will compete for accessing and courting them. However, there are exceptions to the rule. When males present a high reproductive investment, sex roles can reverse from typical patterns, turning males into the choosy sex, while females locate males and initiate courtship. In many spiders, males are smaller than females, wandering in search of sedentary females and maximizing the number of copulations. In the present study, we present findings on the sand-dwelling wolf spider, Allocosa brasiliensis, evidencing a reversal in typical courtship roles reported for the first time in spiders. Males were bigger than females. Females located males and initiated courtship. Copulation always occurred in male burrows and took place mainly in long burrows. Males donated their burrows to the females after copulation, closing the entrance before leaving with female cooperation from inside. Males would provide females with a secure place for ovipositing, being exposed to predation and diminishing their future mating possibilities until constructing a new burrow. The cost of vacating the burrow and losing the refuge in an unpredictable habitat, such as sand dunes, would explain the courtship roles reversal in this spider species. Results turn A. brasiliensis as a promising model for discussing the determinants of sex roles and the pressures that drive their evolution and maintenance. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Territory defence in tropical birds: are females as aggressive as males?

Much of our knowledge concerning the functions of territorial behaviour and how territories are defended by individuals comes from research on birds. The vast majority of this work has focused on temperate zone breeding territoriality in which territories are defended most obviously by males. Our understanding of the female role in territory defence is limited because they are less conspicuous and much harder to observe. We studied sex roles in territory maintenance and defence in a duetting, resident neotropical passerine, the white-bellied antbird (Myrmeciza longipes). This species maintains territories and pair bonds year round and both sexes sing and actively participate in territory defence. We performed a series of playback experiments throughout the dry (non-breeding) and wet (breeding) seasons. We exposed territorial pairs to three types of stimuli including: (1) single sex, male only songs, (2) single sex, female only songs, and (3) both sex songs/duets. Contrary to findings for most other tropical species, individuals defended their territories with equal levels of aggression regardless of stimuli. Furthermore, sex roles were very different, with males responding more aggressively than females to all stimuli throughout both seasons. Both males and females consistently responded more aggressively to territorial intrusions during the dry season than during the wet season, likely because food abundance is low in the dry season and territory value is high. Our analysis of duetting behaviour suggests that duets do not serve a significant role in mate guarding, or territory defence.     

Designing regional-level stakeholder engagement processes: striving for good governance while meeting the challenges of scale

Stakeholder engagement processes have sought to ensure that state government meets public trust and good governance obligations to citizens. As the expectations of stakeholders and state agencies change, and management focuses on landscape-level interventions, a change in the level at which agencies engage the public is needed. This involves tradeoffs, as different levels call for different engagement design and implementation considerations. To understand how these differences affect decision making, we examine a regional engagement model for deer management in New York that was piloted to replace a sub-regional model. We identify concerns with the old model, objectives for the redesigned model, and explain the logistical and good governance considerations that informed its design. We share our evaluation of the model's process and outcomes, including implications for program design and scale. Overall, despite the pilot model's attention to design components aimed at addressing potential barriers to regional engagement as well as limitations of the previous engagement model, the pilot did not meet many of its objectives, especially those related to representation, resulting in some of the same concerns associated with the model it was intended to enhance and replace. Implications of this for regional-level engagement efforts are discussed.     

The importance of tangible and intangible factors in human–carnivore coexistence

Conflict with humans is one of the major threats facing the world's remaining large carnivore populations, and understanding human attitudes is key to improving coexistence. We surveyed people living near Hwange National Park about their attitudes toward coexisting with lions. We used ordinal regression models with the results of the survey to investigate the importance of a range of tangible and intangible factors on attitudes. The variables investigated included the costs and benefits of wildlife presence, emotion, culture, religion, vulnerability, risk perception, notions of responsibility, and personal value orientations. This was for the purpose of effectively tailoring conservation efforts but also for ethical policy making. Intangible factors (e.g., fear and ecocentric values) were as important as, if not more important than, tangible factors (such as livestock losses) for understanding attitudes, based on the effect sizes of these variables. The degree to which participants’ fear of lions interfered with their daily activities was the most influential variable. The degree to which benefits accrue to households from the nearby protected area was also highly influential, as was number of livestock lost, number of dependents, ecocentric value orientation, and participation in conflict mitigation programs. Contrary to what is often assumed, metrics of livestock loss did not dominate attitudes to coexistence with lions. Furthermore, we found that socioeconomic variables may appear important when studied in isolation, but their effect may disappear when controlling for variables related to beliefs, perceptions, and past experiences. This raises questions about the widespread reliance on socioeconomic variables in the field of human–wildlife conflict and coexistence. To facilitate coexistence with large carnivores, we recommend measures that reduce fear (through education and through protective measures that reduce the need to be fearful), reduction of livestock losses, and ensuring local communities benefit from conservation. Ecocentric values also emerged as influential, highlighting the need to develop conservation initiatives tailored to local values.     

Participatory GIS for strengthening transboundary marine governance in SIDS

In this paper we explore the challenges involved in engaging the full range of stakeholders needed for effective marine resource management in the transboundary Grenadine Islands shared by the small island developing States (SIDS) of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. The study describes the ways stakeholders were engaged in the development of participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), both in terms of the research approach (process) and the final geodatabase (product); it illustrates how the approach provides a practical means to strengthen aspects of marine governance, particularly in a SIDS context. We found that PGIS can provide a foundation for ecosystem‐based transboundary marine governance. The advantages of this approach are two‐fold: it provides the fullest possible range of information as input for the management of marine resources and it engages the stakeholders. This engagement takes several forms: capacity to participate in research; ownership of information produced; increased stakeholder understanding; empowerment through access to information; capacity to interact with other stakeholders for information and problem‐solving; and competence to participate in actual governance processes. Lastly, we discuss considerations for other practitioners contemplating using PGIS, particularly those working in similar resource‐limited SIDS environments.     

Recent trends and developments in dialogue on radioactive waste management: experience from the UK

This paper highlights some recent trends and developments in dialogue on radioactive waste management in the UK. In particular, it focuses on the use of dialogue around options for the management of risk, and describes techniques for stakeholder dialogue in the field of radioactive waste management. The paper summarises past and on-going experience in the UK, and provides an overview of some practical examples from decommissioning of the former reprocessing facility at Dounreay in Scotland. In common with developments and trend in other countries, the UK has moved to a position where there is now widespread recognition that radioactive waste management requires not only sound technical assessment of risk, but also public participation, consultation and stakeholder dialogue on proposed solutions and the associated risks. In fact, the shift of position has arguably been quite pronounced, with formal procedures to identify, clarify and integrate stakeholders' issues and concerns within the decision-making processes. Experience suggests that citizens are capable of engaging with complex technical issues such as radioactive waste. Indeed, the earlier in the decision-making process that public and stakeholder engagement (PSE) occurs--for example, on the consideration of options and alternatives--the greater the chance of reaching a successful outcome that properly reflects the values and opinions of stakeholders. In the UK, the assessment of alternative waste management options is increasingly being addressed through Best Practical Environmental Option (BPEO) studies. Responses to stakeholder engagement processes and experience of conducting BPEO studies emphasise that consultation must be open, transparent, deliberative and inclusive. However, while early consideration of generic approaches and option choices is necessary to generate a climate of openness and understanding, it remains essential to fully engage with local stakeholder and community groups to consider issues associated with proposed developments at a site-specific level. An interesting area where further attention may be warranted is the use in final decision-making of the results from participatory processes such as BPEO studies. Demonstrating clearly that participants' views have influenced decisions appears to be essential for retaining legitimacy and trust, confidence and goodwill.