Project Information

Project Completion: June 2016. This project is completed.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Brian Irwin, USGS Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Implements Science Plan Theme: 1: Develop climate projections and determine appropriate projections to use for resource management

Key Points

• Incorporated the concept of uncertainty into conservation and its different applications
• Communicated with diverse experts at a workshop to guide research focus
• Completed a literature review of the topic to support the needs of resource managers and other stakeholders

Overview

We often have uncertainty in our decisions, from picking a new morning coffee to choosing where to live. Even science-supported decisions have some level of uncertainty. In conservation, the long-term impacts of decisions are a big source of uncertainty. We cannot be precise in our future climate and ecological projections. We also cannot predict the exact future impacts of management actions.

Resource managers need to make decisions while knowing that some factors will be uncertain. There are two main ways to make a management action successful. The decision should identify and understand the main uncertainties. There should also be communication between stakeholders, scientists, and resource managers. 

This project supported strategic decision making in conservation. We studied the current science related to communication and uncertainties in these decisions. We then brought together a range of experts for a February 2013 workshop. Scientists, decision makers, planners, and resource managers explained their research and planning needs. We focused on the topics of uncertainty and climate change. This workshop and our literature review supports future conservation decisions.