THE EFFECTIVE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE TO MANAGEMENT AND POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING IN ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION EFFORTS

Ideally, ecosystem restoration is driven by sound science, intimately coupled with long-term monitoring and predictive modeling, which conveys pertinent information to resource managers for use in effective adaptive assessment and implementation. In reality, political and economical factors such as industrial and agricultural vitality, tourism, sports recreation, and urban growth are all major influences in determining the course and ultimate outcomes of restoration efforts such as Greater Everglades, Chesapeake Bay, and Tampa Bay. Compounded by communication barriers between scientists and decision-makers in articulating the import of science and management needs, many restoration science projects are consequently compartmentalized and subjugated to addressing the management “issue du jour”. Inadequate thought is given to how these projects fit into the strategic vision of developing a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem functions and processes; a prerequisite towards effective restoration at any scale. Effective use of science in support of restoration efforts requires: 1) A cogent science plan that can articulate the strategic vision of multivariate ecosystem functions and processes while accurately describing the role of the science at all scales and levels of management decision-making; 2) A communication strategy that promotes and utilizes an effective communication process between the scientific, managerial, public, and political interests so that each group clearly understands all of the various factors that influence the restoration decision-making process and subsequent implementation efforts; 3) A restoration adaptive management plan that utilizes the strategic science plan and clearly lays out the specific restoration activities for successful implementation; 4) A well-defined and effective set of implementation performance measures; 5) A financial plan that accurately lays out costs for specific activities with reasonable timelines for their completion and the delivery of related products. This should also include projected costs for conducting multiphase science, monitoring, and modeling activities through the adaptive management plan- a cost that is dangerously ignored or short-changed in many current major restoration efforts.