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Authors: Michelle Hilleary, Hal Cardwell, Michael Deegan, Igor Linkov, Chris Cummings, Kat McCain

Speakers: Michelle Hilleary & Hal Cardwell (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Abstract:

Collaboration in water resources management in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has benefited from sustained strategic investment and network nurturing. Recent policy directives to look more comprehensively across categories of benefits are moving the Corps to employ more multi-objective decision making techniques in the tradeoffs analysis step of the Civil Works planning process. Applying collaborative techniques in tradeoffs analyses will facilitate better decision-making and increased realization of benefits in the public sphere.

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Authors: Leah M. Sharpe, Matthew C. Harwell, Jim Harvey, Tammy Newcomer-Johnson, Gina Ferreira, Stephanie Kim, Bruce Pluta

Speaker: Leah Sharpe (US Environmental Protection Agency)

Abstract:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund program is responsible for the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of some of the most contaminated sites in the United States. The primary goal of Superfund work is to protect human health and the environment and the work itself is regulatorily and legislatively proscribed. While the concept of ecosystem services (ES; i.e., the benefits that humans receive from nature) is not a part of Superfund processes, the EPA identified potential connections between ES concepts and remediation and redevelopment of contaminated sites in 2009 and has been applying those concepts in cleanups for over a decade. In addition to regulatory hurdles, the organizational separation of those developing ES tools and those responsible for managing Superfund sites was another challenge to the incorporation of ES concepts in management actions. An ongoing collaboration between tool developers, modelers, risk assessors, and project managers, co-led by researchers focusing on ES tools and risk assessors focused on contaminated site management, has made meaningful progress in incorporating ES concepts and tools in contaminated site cleanup and reuse. These advances include developing generic guidelines for incorporating ES into ecological risk assessments, identifying the value-added aspects provided by incorporation of ES, developing ES tools in response to manager needs, identifying concrete steps to support Superfund staff in effective incorporation of ES tools into their work processes, and conducting multiple case studies as practical demonstrations of this incorporation. This presentation will discuss how this collaboration works, the co-development of decision tools and frameworks, and how the incorporation of ES concepts impacted outcomes in case study examples.

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Authors: Jennifer L. Graham, Gabriella Cebada Mora, Rebecca M. Gorney, Lianne C. Ball, Claudia Mengelt, and Michael C. Runge

Speaker: Jennifer Graham (USGS)

Abstract:

Cyanobacteria increasingly are a global water-quality concern because of the potential for these organisms to develop harmful blooms that affect ecologic, economic, and public health. Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) can lead to a decrease in water quality and may affect the recreational and ecological benefits of parks that include lakes. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) is a state agency charged with the operation of state parks and historic sites. Many New York State parks include lakes or other freshwater bodies, which can be susceptible to CyanoHABs. The OPRHP faces difficult decisions regarding prevention of and response to CyanoHABs. Decision analysis is often used to inform complex decisions regarding natural resource management. Structured decision making (SDM) breaks down complex decisions into their basic parts and reconstructs the problem into a framework that allows for collaborative examination and development of suitable actions. The U.S. Geological Survey partnered with OPRHP and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to develop a SDM template for managing CyanoHABs in OPRHP parks. Two parks, Moreau Lake State Park and Rockland Lake State Park, served as case studies to motivate and test the template. This presentation will describe how the principles of SDM can be used to navigate the challenges associated with managing CyanoHABs using the case studies as examples. Management objectives and strategies for CyanoHABs in OPRHP parks, strategies to evaluate consequences and manage trade-offs, and potential challenges to the implementation of preferred alternatives will be discussed.

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Authors: Angela Romito & Max Post van der Burg

Speaker: Angela Romito (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Abstract:

A team comprised of United States Fish & Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System (US FWS NWRS) biologists and refuge managers worked collaboratively to develop a transparent, coordinated process to allocate annual invasive species funding, better leverage relevant resources, and reduce the impact of non-native species, in turn, facilitating achievement of biological integrity, species diversity, and environmental health across the Midwest US FWS NWRS. They constrained their work to reflect refuge capacity for project implementation, variability in station priorities, adherence to funding directives, and relevant law and policy. Five fundamental objectives were identified by the team including, 1) maximizing the condition of refuge species of concern and their associated habitats, 2) project success, 3) efficiency, 4) maximizing the number of refuges that benefit from allocation and, 5) partner and landowner acceptance. To assess how well proposed projects performed relative to these objectives, measurable performance measures (15 total) were identified for each objective. A request for proposal (RFP) system was used to solicit projects from 70 Refuge Complexes and Wetland Management Districts across the Midwest NWRS. To reduce administrative burden, and subjectivity in proposal review, the RFP was designed (via Microsoft Forms) to allow proposal authors to score their projects according to the criteria selected by the model development team. The decision aid was used to produce four project portfolios, along with predictions of their expected conservation benefits, for consideration by regional decision-makers. The optimal portfolio resulted in the most projects funded and the highest cumulative conservation benefit. Decision-makers collectively chose to allocate funds to the projects in the optimal portfolio. The decision tool, along with the RFP system, will be used to allocate these funds in future years.

Facilitated by: Katrina Alger (US Geological Survey)