Research
PNW
Funded Projects
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
PNW Project Overview 2000
A Conference to Explore Social, Political and Organizational Challenges for Implementation of a Scientifically Well-grounded Plan of Validation Monitoring
Principal
Investigator:
John
Calhoun,
University of Washington, Olympic Natural Resources Center
Awarded: $24,100
Project
Description:
In
terms of salmon conservation, policy goals are intended to increase the
number of salmon through a variety of strategies.
Implementation and evaluation of these strategies requires changes
in the internal and external operations of affected organizations in terms
of activities allowed, activities required, reporting, monitoring and
consultation. Adaptive
management has been suggested as a way to apply intelligent, planned
learning, by redirecting strategies and actions of an organization toward
policy objectives, while making necessary alterations along the way.
The
suggestion to use adaptive management in responding to policy changes
assumes that organizations are capable of learning.
But can organizations learn? There
seem to be few, if any, examples of successful organizational learning and
adaptive management in natural resource issues.
Are we organized as a society in a way that allows organizational
learning and adaptive management to occur?
What are optimum organizational conditions for learning and
adapting? Are there models
for successful organizational learning that natural resources
organizations can learn from? Are there some common principles that can be
applied to organizations that are expected to learn and adapt in order to
be successful?
The
Governors of Oregon and Washington are committed to salmon conservation.
Each is marshaling significant public resources to address this
issue, assisted by significant federal support.
The Governors ask the question, “How can we best organize
ourselves for using research and management experience to learn how to
conserve salmon habitat?” This
project supports a conference intended to help answer the above questions.
Project Status:
Conference Proceedings are in progress.
Project
Progress:
Along
with John Calhoun, ONRC
has engaged Dr. Robert Lee from the University of Washington and Robert
Alverts from the Bureau of Land Management as the key organizers of this conference.
The Seattle conference will occur in December 2001.