Origins of
the
Validation Monitoring Panel
In 1997 ONRC began to focus its attention on
salmon monitoring efforts. This interest grew from a spreading concern that major salmon
restoration efforts throughout the Northwest were not being monitored well, in spite of
expressed recognition of this need. Further, the question arose as to how the
effectiveness of some conservation practices might be measured. It became apparent to ONRC
that salmon conservation would be enhanced if monitoring included four key elements: 1)
monitoring must measure responses of fish populations to specific actions, 2) it must be
coordinated among those engaged in monitoring efforts, 3) it must enjoy broad based social
and political support to endure, and 4) it must be well funded.
Olympic Natural Resources Center engaged Dr. Daniel B.
Botkin and The Center for the Study of the Environment (CSE) to provide background
information and the scientific basis for a monitoring program that would address aspects
of the key issues listed above. The CSE provided ONRC with a report that described from a
scientific point of view the most useful measurements to include in a monitoring proposal
and provided a brief explanation for the selection of variables and the overall approach
(see CSE report, "Monitoring and Salmonid Restoration on the Olympic
Peninsula"). From the CSE report:
"Purpose of Ecological Monitoring
The rationale for the necessity of
ecological monitoring as part of management is straightforward. If you do not measure the
effects of what you do, you do not know if the effects are beneficial (in the sense of
helping to achieve the goals), negative (producing effects contrary to the goals), or
neutral. While this may seem obvious, it has rarely been part of approaches to the
conservation and management of salmonids."
Upon seeking comment on the CSE report among ONRC partners,
it became apparent that the CSE report’s recommendations on "counting fish"
to directly measure cause-and-effect relationships between conservation actions and salmon
population responses did not enjoy universal support. For its part, the CSE team
acknowledged these responses and the complexity and scale of the challenge they pointed
to, but stood firmly behind their suggestions. Scientific dialogue of this kind is healthy
and essential to the scientific method and to progress in understanding.
The CSE report and the technical dialogue it generated drew
our attention to the need for a broader perspective on the status of scientific knowledge
regarding effectiveness and validation monitoring. In the coming year, ONRC has allocated funds to
support a scholarly review of the approach to monitoring outlined in the CSE report. To
fairly evaluate the merits and shortcomings of CSE’s approach, ONRC has designed a
peer review process that will focus on technical issues raised by its specific
recommendations and set them in the context of the history and content of alternative
salmon restoration monitoring approaches. Characterizing the state of our scientific
knowledge and the merits of alternative approaches are essential steps toward articulating
the optimal monitoring approach to incorporate in federal and state programs. ONRC was
established to provide pragmatic solutions, not conduct academic exercises. It is our hope
that the work we do will be useful in defining a scientifically sound monitoring approach
that can best serve the interests of the state.
Towards this end, ONRC has engaged The Keystone Center,
based in Keystone, Colorado, to design and implement a dialogue process that will allow
credentialed experts to take a hard look at the scientific arguments made in response to
the CSE report’s recommendations.
One outcome we hope to achieve through this dialogue is an
answer to the question: "Can the effects of salmon conservation practices be directly
measured rather than inferred or assumed?" This question is the essence of the
effectiveness and validation monitoring challenge. Our other objective is to prepare a
scholarly overview of the "state of the art" of salmon restoration monitoring.
