12
Decision Support for
Ecosystem Management and
Ecological Assessments
H. Michael Rauscher and Walter D. Potter
12.1 Introduction
In the face of mounting confrontation and after almost 20 years of increasingly contentious public
unhappiness with the management of National
Forests, the USDA Forest Service officially adopted ecosystem management as a land management
paradigm (Overbay, 1992). Other federal forest
land management agencies, such as the USDI Bureau of Land Management, the USDI National Park
Service, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, the
USDC NOAA, and the Environmental Protection
Agency, have also made the commitment to adopt
ecosystem management principles (Government
Accounting Office, 1994). Ecosystem management
represents different things to different people. At
the heart of the ecosystem management paradigm
lies a shift in emphasis away from sustaining yields
of products toward sustaining the ecosystems that
provide these products (Thomas, 1995; Rauscher,
1999). The ecosystem management paradigm represents the latest attempt, in a century-long struggle between resource users and resource preservers,
to fmd a sensible middle ground between ensuring
the necessary long-term protection of the environment while protecting the right of an ever-growing
population to use its natural resources to maintain
and improve human life (Chase, 1995; Taylor,
1998). As the concept of ecosystem management
evolves, debates over definitions, fundamental
~e authors thank Don Nute, Geneho Kim, and Shanyin
LlU of the University of Georgia Artificial Intelligence
Center for their many years of hard work and wonderful
c~>operation in our long-term effort to build good decision support systems. We also thank Mark Twery and
the entire NED development team for their hard work
and great ideas.
162
principles, and policy implications will probably
continue and shape the new paradigm in ways not
yet discernible.
The ecosystem management paradigm was
adopted quickly. No formal studies were conducted
to identify the consequences of the changes ushered in by this new approach, nor was any welldocumented, widely accepted, organized methodology developed for its implementation (Thomas,
1997). Today, ecosystem management remains primarily a philosophical concept for dealing with
larger spatial scales, longer time frames, and the requirement that management decisions must be socially acceptable, economically feasible, and ecologically sustainable. Because the definition and
fundamental principles that make up the ecosystem
management paradigm have not yet been resolved
and widely accepted, the challenge is to build the
philosophical concept of ecosystem management
into an explicitly defined, operationally practical
methodology (Wear et aI., 1996; Thomas, 1997).
Effective ecosystem management processes are urgently needed so that federal land managers can
better accommodate the continuing rapid change in
societal perspectives and goals (Bormann et al.,
1993).
Ecosystem management represents a shift from
simple to complex definitions of the ecosystems
that we manage (Kohm and Franklin, 1997). It will
require the development of effective, multiobjective decision support systems to (1) assist individuals and groups in their decision-making processes;
(2) support, rather than replace, the judgment of the
decision makers; and (3) improve the quality,
reproducibility, and explicability of decision
processes (Janssen, 1992; Larsen et al., 1997;
Reynolds et al., 1999). The complexity of environmental dynamics over time and space, over-
Decision Support for
Ecosystem Management and
Ecological Assessments
H. Michael Rauscher and Walter D. Potter
12.1 Introduction
In the face of mounting confrontation and after almost 20 years of increasingly contentious public
unhappiness with the management of National
Forests, the USDA Forest Service officially adopted ecosystem management as a land management
paradigm (Overbay, 1992). Other federal forest
land management agencies, such as the USDI Bureau of Land Management, the USDI National Park
Service, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, the
USDC NOAA, and the Environmental Protection
Agency, have also made the commitment to adopt
ecosystem management principles (Government
Accounting Office, 1994). Ecosystem management
represents different things to different people. At
the heart of the ecosystem management paradigm
lies a shift in emphasis away from sustaining yields
of products toward sustaining the ecosystems that
provide these products (Thomas, 1995; Rauscher,
1999). The ecosystem management paradigm represents the latest attempt, in a century-long struggle between resource users and resource preservers,
to fmd a sensible middle ground between ensuring
the necessary long-term protection of the environment while protecting the right of an ever-growing
population to use its natural resources to maintain
and improve human life (Chase, 1995; Taylor,
1998). As the concept of ecosystem management
evolves, debates over definitions, fundamental
~e authors thank Don Nute, Geneho Kim, and Shanyin
LlU of the University of Georgia Artificial Intelligence
Center for their many years of hard work and wonderful
c~>operation in our long-term effort to build good decision support systems. We also thank Mark Twery and
the entire NED development team for their hard work
and great ideas.
162
principles, and policy implications will probably
continue and shape the new paradigm in ways not
yet discernible.
The ecosystem management paradigm was
adopted quickly. No formal studies were conducted
to identify the consequences of the changes ushered in by this new approach, nor was any welldocumented, widely accepted, organized methodology developed for its implementation (Thomas,
1997). Today, ecosystem management remains primarily a philosophical concept for dealing with
larger spatial scales, longer time frames, and the requirement that management decisions must be socially acceptable, economically feasible, and ecologically sustainable. Because the definition and
fundamental principles that make up the ecosystem
management paradigm have not yet been resolved
and widely accepted, the challenge is to build the
philosophical concept of ecosystem management
into an explicitly defined, operationally practical
methodology (Wear et aI., 1996; Thomas, 1997).
Effective ecosystem management processes are urgently needed so that federal land managers can
better accommodate the continuing rapid change in
societal perspectives and goals (Bormann et al.,
1993).
Ecosystem management represents a shift from
simple to complex definitions of the ecosystems
that we manage (Kohm and Franklin, 1997). It will
require the development of effective, multiobjective decision support systems to (1) assist individuals and groups in their decision-making processes;
(2) support, rather than replace, the judgment of the
decision makers; and (3) improve the quality,
reproducibility, and explicability of decision
processes (Janssen, 1992; Larsen et al., 1997;
Reynolds et al., 1999). The complexity of environmental dynamics over time and space, over-