Downstream Adaptive Management of Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River Ecosystem (1999) / Chapter Skim
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3 The Adaptive Management Program
3 The Adaptive Management Program
Pages 51-79
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From page 51... ...
We ask whether there is a common vision for Grand Canyon resources and whether the core adaptive management experiment has been clearly defined, communicated, and initiated. Because stakeholder-defined management objectives and information needs are intended to guide the Center's monitoring and research programs and provide measurable standards for evaluating adaptive management, we examine the current list of management objectives and information needs and ask whether they are 51
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From page 52... ...
Its most effective form-"active" adaptive management employs management programs that are designed to experi
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From page 53... ...
Other important water resources applications are underway in the Everglades, the Upper Mississippi River Basin, and in California's Bay-Delta ecosystem (Adaptive Environmental Assessment Steering Committee and Modeling Team, 1997; CMARP Steering Committee, 1988; Harwell, 1998; Independent Scientific Group, 1996; NRC, 1996b; Strategic Plan Core Team for the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, 1998; Volkman and McConnaha, 1993; Walters et al., 1992~. Related ecosystem management activities in the Colorado River Basin include the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fishes Recovery Implementation Program, the San Juan Recovery implementation Program, and the Multispecies Conservation Program in the Lower Colorado River Basin (Pontius, 19971.
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From page 54... ...
It has one of the most complex and contested organizational contexts for water resources management in the world, as evidenced by the array of stakeholders and managers engaged in the Adaptive Management Program. This situation calls for innovation as well as creative application of adaptive management concepts and methods to Glen Canyon Dam and the Grand Canyon ecosystem.
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From page 55... ...
The Adaptive Management Program strives for this approach by designing monitoring and research programs to provide advice to the Secretary of the Interior about dam operations that preserve and enhance downstream resources. The Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement defined adaptive management as a process "whereby the effects of dam operations on downstream resources would be assessed and the results of those resource assessments would form the basis for future modifications of dam operations" (U.S.
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From page 56... ...
The prominence of the Grand Canyon National Park and the Glen Canyon and Lake Mead National Recreation Areas elevate the Adaptive Management Program to a national scale of importance, as indicated by passage of the Grand Canyon Protection Act in 1992. This act focused on protecting the river corridor in Grand Canyon from adverse impacts of Glen Canyon Dam operations.
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From page 57... ...
describe the structure and procedures of adaptive management, the Center's strategic plans contain the most detailed discussion of the Program's philosophy and implementation in the Grand Canyon to date. Introductory chapters remind participants of the initiating roles of stakeholders' management objectives, feedback provided by scientists through ecosystem monitoring and research (including identification of key information needs)
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From page 58... ...
Although these efforts have not always been entirely successful, the Center has sought stakeholder input on science plans to a greater degree and in more consistent ways than commonly occurs in such organizations, reflecting an appreciation of the aims and methods of adaptive management. Based upon the committee's observations and conversations with stakeholders, these efforts to formalize input seem to have led to greater stakeholder satisfaction than the process associated with the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies, although a systematic evaluation has not been conducted.
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From page 59... ...
The Center has assumed or been charged with some administrative roles beyond those defined in the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement and charter documents, which may reduce its ability to perform its primary scientific tasks. At this writing, the Technical Work Group was seeking to clarify those roles.
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From page 60... ...
Although it has helped define the overall Adaptive Management Program, the Center may become a subservient junior partner in the Program. The organizational diagram from the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement is triangular, suggesting an even, collaborative relationship and rough parity between the Center and the Technical Work Group (see Figure 1.2~.
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From page 61... ...
Previous National Research Council committees also noted the lack of clear, coherent goals for Grand Canyon ecosystem management. During Glen Canyon Environmental Studies Phase T
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From page 62... ...
The first alternative is the current pluralistic situation. Management objectives are organized under nine "resource areas" identified in the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement: water, sediment, fish, vegetation, wildlife and habitat, endangered and other special status species, cultural resources, recreation, and hydropower.
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From page 63... ...
But they would still lack the common or prioritized objectives needed for rule-based simulation, goal programming, and optimization methods. The second alternative the visionary alternativ~posits that until a coherent vision for the ecosystem is agreed upon, it will be difficult to create a program that meets the tenets of ecosystem science and adaptive management as specified in the Grand Canyon Protection Act, the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, and the Record of Decision.
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From page 64... ...
Through time, some of these views may gain support and clarify common interests in the Grand Canyon ecosystem. The third recommendation is that it would be wise to examine adaptive management experiments where "normative" approaches are being tried, as in the Columbia River Basin (Independent Scientific Group, 19961.
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From page 65... ...
Adaptive Management, Ecosystem Management, and Social Learning Just as "visions" for the Grand Canyon ecosystem are at a formative stage, the Adaptive Management Program overall is at an early stage of development. It has been appropriate for the strategic plans to initially focus on establishing the Program and its protocols.
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From page 66... ...
, these basic questions of social learning should be formally incorporated as part of the experiment. Disparate Management Objectives and Information Needs As defined in the 1998 Strategic Plan, management objectives are to "define measurable standards of desired future resource conditions which will serve as objectives to be achieved by all stakeholders within the Adaptive Management Program." Information needs are to "define the specific scientific understanding required to obtain specified management objectives" (Center, 1998, p.
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From page 67... ...
At a more fundamental level, the lack of a clear set of management objectives and information needs makes it difficult to design and test adaptive management experiments. The management objectives were derived from the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement and the resource areas defined therein.
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From page 68... ...
basically correct, the management objectives are repetitive and unnecessarily vague. The first two state basically the same thing: that the number and size of sandbars and backwater channels be maintained.
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From page 69... ...
It states that"downstream of Glen Canyon Dam to the confluence of the Paria River, sufficient ecological conditions should be maintained...to produce a large, self-sustaining population of at least 100,000 Age TI+ rainbow trout." Information need 2.l, "Determine ecosystem requirements, population character and structure to maintain naturally reproducing populations of Age IT plus fish at 100,000 population levels in Glen Canyon," is an overarching statement that captures the essence of what is desired. The next five information needs (2.2-2.6)
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From page 70... ...
2. 1998 Management Objective 2 In the Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam to the confluence of the Paria River, sufficient ecological conditions (such as habitat, food base, and temperature)
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From page 71... ...
A simpler set of management objectives within a consistent ecosystem vision is needed for the Adaptive Management Program. A mechanism is needed for electively revising and consolidating the management objectives and information needs to make a clear statement of desired future conditions and to provide a basis for formulating adaptive management experiments.
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From page 72... ...
Although the current management experiment is mandated in the Record of Decision and described in some detail in the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, an explicit discussion of this experiment does not appear in the Strategic Plan. A set of multiple hypotheses about anticipated outcomes of the current Modified Low Fluctuating Flow experiment should be constructed for each of the nine resource areas.
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From page 73... ...
. The Strategic Plan sidesteps the final, equally essential, step of management, the articulation of scientific criteria to guide choices among competing objectives that "protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the values," identified in the Grand Canyon Protection Act.
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From page 74... ...
State information includes data representing an ecosystem's state at any time. It would include data on Glen Canyon Dam operations, power production, stream hydrology and geomorphology, temperature and oxygen concentration, aquatic primary production and detritus, benthic insect production, riparian vegetation, and animal populations.
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From page 75... ...
Independent Review Independent review played an important role in evaluating, and at times redirecting, the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies. The previous National Research Council committees ran from 1986 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1996.
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From page 76... ...
According to the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, independent review panels are to be comprised of qualif~ed individuals not otherwise participating in monitoring and research studies and established by the Secretary of the interior. Furthermore, these panels are to be established in consultation with the National Academy of Sciences (parent body of the National Research Council)
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From page 77... ...
In addition to review of individual programs, the Center and the Adaptive Management Program will benefit from review of overall monitoring and research and its effectiveness in addressing the mandates of the Grand Canyon Protection Act, the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, and the Record of Decision. A multidisciplinary committee is essential for adequate consideration of coordination and balance among resource programs, their combined effectiveness in advancing understanding of the Grand Canyon ecosystem, and progress in defining and testing adaptive management experiments.
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From page 78... ...
According to the March 17-1S, 1998 discussion paper, the Science Advisory Board is to be an official subcommittee of the Adaptive Management Work Group. The paper goes on to instruct the Science Advisory Board to "not review, interpret, or otherwise evaluate public policy decisions...associated with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program and activities of the AMWG [Adaptive Management Work Group]
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From page 79... ...
The Adaptive Management Program 79 Advisory Board is to be used for broad programmatic review, a number of changes are required to ensure credibility and independence. It should not be defined as a subcommittee of the Adaptive Management Work Group, which would make it an internal organization.
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