166
Decision Support for Ecosystem Management and Ecological Assessments
eral millions of dollars to finish. The objectives for
integrated ecological assessments are to provide (1)
a description of current and historic composition,
structure, and function of ecosystems; (2) a description of the biotic (including human) and abiotic processes that contributed to the development
of the current ecosystem conditions; and (3) a description of probable future scenarios that might exist under different types of management strategies
(Jensen et al., 1998). For examples of regional assessments, see the case studies provided in this
guidebook.
Currently, precisely how these regional assessments fit into the ecosystem management process
is unclear. One alternative would be to view regional assessments as DSS for ecosystem management at the ecoregion-multistate scale. In this capacity, the current objectives for assessments focus
entirely too much on the ecosystem component of
ecosystem management. The Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAMAB, 1996), for example,
examines the social and economic activities of people within the region, but only in their roles as
ecosystem members and users. The role of people
as managers of ecosystems, including their role as
managers of social-economic-political systems in
the region, is largely ignored. To correct this deficiency, another list of objectives for regional assessments might include the following: (1) identify
a set of regional scale goals and desired future conditions and compare these to the current conditions;
(2) identify regional stakeholders, their preferences
and values, and how they compare to the general
public in the region; (3) identify the legal and political climate within which ecosystem management must function; (4) identify the regional costs
and who will bear them, as well as the regional
gains and who will reap them; and (5) identify the
major problems, who is responsible for solving
them, and who has supervisory responsibility to
monitor progress and assure that a satisfactory solution is eventually reached.
12.3 Ecosystem Management
Processes
The decision-making environment determines the
goals, values, and constraints for the organization.
Organizational policy then translates the mandates
of the decision-making environment into specific
decision-making processes. A decision-making
process is a method or procedure that guides managers through a series of tasks, from problem identification and analysis to alternative design and finally alternative selection (Mintzberg et aI., 1976;
Clemen, 1996). Ideally, decision support systems
should not be developed until the ecosystem management decision-making processes that they are to
support have been articulated. In reality, both the
decision processes and the software systems needed
to support them are evolving simultaneously, each
helping to refine the other.
First-generation ecosystem management processes have evolved from two sources: (1) academia, where several ecosystem management processes have been described at a general, conceptual
level and their macrolevel structures and functions
have been identified; and (2) federal forest managers at the field level, where numerous, local adhoc processes have been developed and tested under fire. The academic, high-level descriptions of
ecosystem management processes do not supply
adequate details to guide the development of decision support systems; also, they are theoretical,
lacking adequate field testing to determine how
they work in practice. The local, ad-hoc ecosystem
management processes are too numerous for effective software-based decision support (approximately 400 ranger districts in the U.S. National Forest System each have their own process; other
federal agencies have hundreds of additional field
organizations), and few, if any, have been studied
and described formally so that similarities and differences can be identified. Moreover, no particular
process(es) have been widely accepted and implemented in federal forest management. We should
devote as much creative attention to devising good
ecosystem management decision processes as we
do to assuring the quality of the decisions themselves (Ticknor, 1993). In this section, the major
elements of a generic ecosystem management
process are identified based on a synthesis of the
literature.
Adaptive management, a continuing process of
planning, monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting
management methods (Bormann et aI., 1993;
FEMAT, 1993; Lee, 1993), provides a framework
for describing a generic management process. The
usefulness of adaptive management as an ecosystem management process is being field tested by
the Forest Service in the Northwest and in other regions of the country (Shindler et al., 1996). Described at the most general level, adaptive management consists of four activities, plan-actmonitor-evaluate, linked to each other in a network
of relationships (Figure 12.2). At each cycle, the
results of the evaluation activity are fed back to the
planning activity so that adaptive learning can take
Decision Support for Ecosystem Management and Ecological Assessments
eral millions of dollars to finish. The objectives for
integrated ecological assessments are to provide (1)
a description of current and historic composition,
structure, and function of ecosystems; (2) a description of the biotic (including human) and abiotic processes that contributed to the development
of the current ecosystem conditions; and (3) a description of probable future scenarios that might exist under different types of management strategies
(Jensen et al., 1998). For examples of regional assessments, see the case studies provided in this
guidebook.
Currently, precisely how these regional assessments fit into the ecosystem management process
is unclear. One alternative would be to view regional assessments as DSS for ecosystem management at the ecoregion-multistate scale. In this capacity, the current objectives for assessments focus
entirely too much on the ecosystem component of
ecosystem management. The Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAMAB, 1996), for example,
examines the social and economic activities of people within the region, but only in their roles as
ecosystem members and users. The role of people
as managers of ecosystems, including their role as
managers of social-economic-political systems in
the region, is largely ignored. To correct this deficiency, another list of objectives for regional assessments might include the following: (1) identify
a set of regional scale goals and desired future conditions and compare these to the current conditions;
(2) identify regional stakeholders, their preferences
and values, and how they compare to the general
public in the region; (3) identify the legal and political climate within which ecosystem management must function; (4) identify the regional costs
and who will bear them, as well as the regional
gains and who will reap them; and (5) identify the
major problems, who is responsible for solving
them, and who has supervisory responsibility to
monitor progress and assure that a satisfactory solution is eventually reached.
12.3 Ecosystem Management
Processes
The decision-making environment determines the
goals, values, and constraints for the organization.
Organizational policy then translates the mandates
of the decision-making environment into specific
decision-making processes. A decision-making
process is a method or procedure that guides managers through a series of tasks, from problem identification and analysis to alternative design and finally alternative selection (Mintzberg et aI., 1976;
Clemen, 1996). Ideally, decision support systems
should not be developed until the ecosystem management decision-making processes that they are to
support have been articulated. In reality, both the
decision processes and the software systems needed
to support them are evolving simultaneously, each
helping to refine the other.
First-generation ecosystem management processes have evolved from two sources: (1) academia, where several ecosystem management processes have been described at a general, conceptual
level and their macrolevel structures and functions
have been identified; and (2) federal forest managers at the field level, where numerous, local adhoc processes have been developed and tested under fire. The academic, high-level descriptions of
ecosystem management processes do not supply
adequate details to guide the development of decision support systems; also, they are theoretical,
lacking adequate field testing to determine how
they work in practice. The local, ad-hoc ecosystem
management processes are too numerous for effective software-based decision support (approximately 400 ranger districts in the U.S. National Forest System each have their own process; other
federal agencies have hundreds of additional field
organizations), and few, if any, have been studied
and described formally so that similarities and differences can be identified. Moreover, no particular
process(es) have been widely accepted and implemented in federal forest management. We should
devote as much creative attention to devising good
ecosystem management decision processes as we
do to assuring the quality of the decisions themselves (Ticknor, 1993). In this section, the major
elements of a generic ecosystem management
process are identified based on a synthesis of the
literature.
Adaptive management, a continuing process of
planning, monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting
management methods (Bormann et aI., 1993;
FEMAT, 1993; Lee, 1993), provides a framework
for describing a generic management process. The
usefulness of adaptive management as an ecosystem management process is being field tested by
the Forest Service in the Northwest and in other regions of the country (Shindler et al., 1996). Described at the most general level, adaptive management consists of four activities, plan-actmonitor-evaluate, linked to each other in a network
of relationships (Figure 12.2). At each cycle, the
results of the evaluation activity are fed back to the
planning activity so that adaptive learning can take