Science in the public process of ecosystem management: lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland

Partnerships and co-operative environmental management are increasing worldwide as is the call for scientific input in the public process of ecosystem management. In Hawaii, private landowners, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal agencies have formed watershed partnerships to conserve and better manage upland forested watersheds. In this paper, findings of an international workshop convened in Hawaii to explore the strengths of approaches used to assess stakeholder values of environmental resources and foster consensus in the public process of ecosystem management are presented. Authors draw upon field experience in projects throughout Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US mainland to derive a set of lessons learned that can be applied to Hawaiian and other watershed partnerships in an effort to promote consensus and sustainable ecosystem management. Interdisciplinary science-based models can serve as effective tools to identify areas of potential consensus in the process of ecosystem management. Effective integration of scientific input in co-operative ecosystem management depends on the role of science, the stakeholders and decision-makers involved, and the common language utilized to compare tradeoffs. Trust is essential to consensus building and the integration of scientific input must be transparent and inclusive of public feedback. Consideration of all relevant stakeholders and the actual benefits and costs of management activities to each stakeholder is essential. Perceptions and intuitive responses of people can be as influential as analytical processes in decision-making and must be addressed. Deliberative, dynamic and iterative decision-making processes all influence the level of stakeholder achievement of consensus. In Hawaii, application of lessons learned can promote more informed and democratic decision processes, quality scientific analysis that is relevant, and legitimacy and public acceptance of ecosystem management.     

The Ways of Wickedness: Analyzing Messiness with Messy Tools

The revelatory paper, “Dilemmas in the General Theory of Planning,” by Rittel and Webber (Policy Sci 4:155–169, 1973) has had great impact because it provides one example of an emergent consensus across many disciplines. Many “problems,” as addressed in real-world situations, involve elements that exceed the complexity of any known or hoped-for model, or are “wicked.” Many who encounter this work for the first time find that their concept of wicked problems aptly describes many environmental disputes. For those frustrated with the lack of progress in many areas of environmental protection, Rittel and Webber’s work suggested a powerful explanatory hypothesis: Complex environmental problems cannot be comprehended within any of the accepted disciplinary models available in the academy or in discourses on public interest and policy. What should we conclude about the future of social improvements, and about the possibilities for rational discourse leading to cooperative action, with respect to this huge number of pressing public, environmental problems? Can we find ways to address environmental problems that improves the ability of communities to respond creatively and rationally to them? I will argue that, while the Rittel-Webber critique requires us to abandon many of the assumptions associated with a positivistic view of science and its applications to policy analysis, it also points to a more productive direction for the future of policy analysis. I will introduce “boundary critique,” developed within Critical Systems Theory (CST), an approach that offers some reason for optimism in dealing with some aspects of wickedness.     

Temporal Trends in the Spatial Distribution of Impervious Cover Relative to Stream Location

Use of impervious cover is transitioning from an indicator of surface water condition to one that also guides and informs watershed planning and management, including Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1251 et seq.) reporting. Whether it is for understanding surface water condition or planning and management, impervious cover is most commonly expressed as summary measurement (e.g., percentage watershed in impervious cover). We use the National Land Cover Database to estimate impervious cover in the vicinity of surface waters for three time periods (2001, 2006, 2011). We also compare impervious cover in the vicinity of surface waters to watershed summary estimates of impervious cover for classifying the spatial pattern of impervious cover. Between 2001 and 2011, surface water shorelines (streams and water bodies) in the vicinity of impervious cover increased nearly 10,000 km. Across all time periods, approximately 27% of the watersheds in the continental United States had proximally distributed impervious cover, i.e., the percentage of impervious cover in the vicinity of surface waters was higher than its watershed summary expression. We discuss how impervious cover spatial pattern can be used to inform watershed planning and management, including reporting under the Clean Water Act.     

Impact of power utility rights-of-way on wooded wetland

This study documents the effects of power utility right-of-way construction and maintenance on the vegetation of a wooded wetland in North Reading, Massachusetts, USA. Neither activity had a substantial, long-term negative impact. Except for differences in size and maturity, the vegetation recovered in two years from nearly total destruction caused by construction. Maintenance that included the periodic removal of high-growing species led to the formation of a plant association different from the one occurring naturally, but as diverse and species rich.     

Changes in crested wheatgrass root exudation caused by flood, drought, and nutrient stress

Root exudates can chelate inorganic soil contaminants, change rhizosphere pH, and may increase degradation of organic contaminants by microbial cometabolism. Root-zone stress may increase exudation and enhance phytoremediation. We studied the effects of low K+, high NH4+/NO3- ratio, drought, and flooding on the quantity and composition of exudates. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) was grown in Ottawa sand in sealed, flow-through glass columns under axenic conditions for 70 d. Root exudates were collected and analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC) and organic acid content to compare treatment effects. Plants in the low K+ treatment exuded 60% more TOC per plant per day (p = 0.01) than the unstressed control. Drought stress increased cumulative TOC exuded per gram dry plant by 71% (p = 0.05). The flooded treatment increased TOC exuded per gram dry plant by 45%, although this was not statistically significant based on the two replicate plants in this treatment. Exudation from the high NH4+/NO3- ratio treatment was 10% less than the control. Exudation rates in this study ranged from 8 to 50% of rates in four other published studies. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis indicated that malic acid was the predominant organic acid exuded. Fumaric, malonic, succinic, and oxalic acids were also detected in the exudates of all treatments. These results demonstrate that nutrient and water stress have significant effects on the quantity and composition of root exudates. Cultural manipulations to induce stress may change the quantity of root exudates and thus increase the effectiveness of phytoremediation.     

Observations on the workshop as a means of improving communication between holders of traditional and scientific knowledge

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and the information and insights it offers to natural resource research and management have been given much attention in recent years. On the practical question of how TEK is accessed and used together with scientific knowledge, most work to date has examined documentation and methods of recording and disseminating information. Relatively little has been done regarding exchanges between scientific and traditional knowledge. This paper examines three workshop settings in which such exchanges were intended outcomes. The Barrow Symposium on Sea Ice, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Program Synthesis/Information Workshops, and the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee illuminate certain features of the preparation, format, and context of workshops or series of workshops and their eventual outcomes and influence. The examples show the importance of long-term relationships among participants and thorough preparation before the actual workshop. Further research should look more systematically at the factors that influence the success of a given workshop and the various ways in which participants perceive success.