Ecosystem Management

Ecosystem management is an approach that was developed in the 1990s after conflicts continued to occur with the other approaches. This approach is at a larger, wider scale than what was done before. Some of the main goals of ecosystem management are to be more proactive than reactive, to protect habitat as best as possible, and protect the connections between different ecosystem. (Groom, 2005)

Actions that need to be taken to make sure that the goals are attainable and are very dynamic. First a shared vision and a connection between the stakeholders must be made. The stakeholders need to feel that they are going to reach the goals. This gives stakeholders a sense of buy in. Next, interdisciplinary approaches need to be looked at and possibly used; as well as different conservation approaches. When this is done correctly not only is the ecosystem is conserved but the interests of all the stakeholders have been taken into account (Groom, 2005).

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are the group of people that should be involved when ecosystems are trying to be conserved and protected. This is a very inclusive group of people and they all will have their own reasons for wanting to be involved. Stakeholders are anyone who takes an interest in what is being protected or preserved (Hajkowicz, 2008).

This interest could be because the person is connected to the land in some way. Whether it's that they live or work near it or are dependent on it for their way of life; they are concerned that whatever decisions are made will affect them. Another type of stakeholders is the people who must make and carry out the regulations used to protect the area or resource. This typically is the government but it can be other entities as well. One other stakeholder is the people who are going to have to pay for the preservation (Prager, 2009).

Command and control management

Command and control management is an approach that uses government commands, meaning laws and regulations, to control the management of ecosystems. This method has been used as the human population continues to grow and the amounts of natural resources that are available remain at the same if not a decreasing level. However this style of management can have consequences that are not quite desirable for the natural resource or the ecosystem that it was trying to protect. This type of management tries to control the level of certain natural resources by controlling the variation that occurs within it. This is done with the goal of being able to systematically increase the stability and the predictability of the particular resource. The concept behind these practices is that if a natural resource is made more predictable, by removing some of its variation, it can be more useful to humans. Through doing this a predictable outcome can be seen. This prediction can then be used to determine what an acceptable rate for people to use the resource (Holling, 1996).

However, when natural variation is removed there are consequences that can follow. For example, people control natural forest fires so that there is a constant supply of lumber to fulfill the industry’s needs. Forest fires are natural processes to clear out the forest and allow seeds to germinate that require extreme heat to begin that process. When forests do burn despite attempts to control them, they can become extremely large due to fuel build up and possibly do damage to the surrounding area, which includes homes (Gibbs, 1997).

Adaptive management

Adaptive management involves an experimental approach to ecosystem management (Department of Interior). The goal of adaptive management is to not only manage the ecosystem so it can maintain the greatest amount of ecological integrity, but also to learn about the system while doing so (Department of Interior, Holling 1978). Adaptive management attempts to address the amount of uncertainty and ignorance that people have about the ecosystems that we are trying to manage (Holling 1978). Like in an experiment, managers form hypotheses about the ecosystem and its functionality and then perform different management techniques to test the hypotheses while also managing the ecosystem (Department of Interior). After the management technique has been implemented the manager again analyzes the ecosystem to see if the technique has improved the functionality of the ecosystem or damaged it (Department of Interior and Holling 1978). The analysis will lead to the technique being modified in different ways until the technique approaches the best method for managing the ecosystem (Holling 1978). The knowledge gained from the adaptive management approach also helps other managers in the future who are also trying to manage different ecosystems. Unfortunately, adaptive management is rarely used in practice (Department of Interior). According to the Department of Interior Technical Guide, the reason adaptive management is rarely used is because many only think that adaptive management is monitoring systems and making slight changes (Department of Interior).

Natural resource management

Unlike other types of ecosystem management, the term natural resource management is frequently used when dealing with a particular resource for human use instead of managing the whole ecosystem (Kellert et al. 2000). Socioeconomics plays a large role in natural resource management (Kellert et al. 2000). The goal of a natural resource manager is to fulfill the demand for a given resource without causing harm to the ecosystem, or jeopardizing the future of the resource (Grimble and Wellard 1997). Like other types of ecosystem management, managers must first measure the integrity of the ecosystem they are working in. If the ecosystem that supports a resource is healthy, managers then set an amount of the resource that can be extracted while leaving enough to allow the population to replenish itself for the following harvest season (Grimble and Wellard 1997). For most resources, they are left alone and allowed to repopulate naturally; however, for some resources, like timber, the trees will be replanted in some areas, so the resource will be there for the future demand. If the natural resource is managed well then the resource will provide for the current demand while leaving enough to repopulate and provide for the demand of the future. However, many natural resources have been overexploited due to poor management and giving into the pressures of the economy.

Strategic management

Strategic management is a process that tries to develop the best method of management for an ecosystem. Managers will get together with all the stakeholders and collaborate in order to set a plan for the management of an ecosystem based on the best known strategies (Shmelev and Powell 2006). After consulting with all of the stakeholders the manager or agency will then implement the plan that was developed (Shmelev and Powell 2006). Strategic management is different than other types of ecosystem managements because it keeps the stakeholders involved and relies on their input to develop the best management strategy for an ecosystem. Like with all methods of ecosystem management, after the plan has been carried out the manager and stakeholders will evaluate their effort and see if there is more that needs to be done (Shmelev and Powell 2006).. If so, then it’s back to the drawing board to develop a new plan.

Landscape level conservation

This type of conservation focuses on protecting and preserving the land at a large scale. To do this one species is typically chosen. Once this choice is made this species is studied. This species is typically an umbrella species. What this means is that the selected species has a large range and will require a lot of area to be protected (Poiani, 2000).

Once a species is chosen it is studied to see how it used the resources around it. Once a behavioral pattern is established and it is easy to see what resources it requires those things needed will then also be looked at. When everything that needs protection and preservation has been identified then the conversationalist look at hoe these things are currently being used. At this point, decisions are made, as how to best protect everything the species requires to live a normal life and thrive. This then protects all of the other species in the umbrella species’ range (Lambeck, 1997).

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Last Edition: 2010/06/13 07:00
Last Author: Ana Bachurova
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