Session 13: Participatory Approaches to Modeling and Managing Water Resources and Aquatic Systems
9:30 AM - 10:50 AM | Room 106
A Stakeholder-Centered Approach to Fisheries Management in the Great Lakes
Renee Reilly, Mike Jones, and Lisa K. Peterson
Michigan State University
We describe a process of directly engaging fishery stakeholders in the development of fisheries harvest policies using a management strategy evaluation approach for Lake Erie percids (walleye and yellow perch). The process explicitly involves stakeholders along with fishery managers, agency fishery biologists, stock assessment specialists, and modelers to create a more transparent decision-making process. Through this process, not only has the breadth of knowledge about the system increased, but trust has been engendered between stakeholders and managers. We will endeavor to impart lessons learned during this process to inform future collaborative work with stakeholders.
Quantitative Systems Modeling for Participatory Watershed Management and Decision Making in the Coeur d’Alene Basin
Jan Boll, Jason Walters, and Jae Ryu
University of Idaho
Lake Coeur d’Alene, situated upstream of the urbanizing corridor from the City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, through Spokane, Washington, is a coupled natural and managed ecosystem at the rural-urban interface. Population and climate change pressures on the lake and surrounding areas are growing, affecting water resources, water quality, and ecological health. An integrative modeling project in collaboration with stakeholder groups includes biophysical modeling of basin-scale hydrology, stream/lake water quality dynamics, and risks to ecosystem services. We use quantitative systems modeling to integrate results of the in-depth modeling processes to achieve participatory management and decision-making.
Socially Downscaling the Hydrological Impacts of Climate Change
Alexander Metzger, Steven Gray, Ellen Douglas, and Matthew Barlow
University of Massachusetts
Paul Kirshe
University of New Hampshire
Our research bridges a gap between locally-scaled hydrologic models incorporating climate change and social and economic impacts relevant to stakeholders. Our “social downscaling” approach integrates these models with priorities and understandings of local communities to make impacts more relevant and tractable. Interviews with local water resource managers helped integrate locally important factors into hydrological models, and workshops using fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) software allowed us to translate model outputs into social and economic impacts. Our presentation discusses how our social downscaling approach can be used in a variety of contexts to make predictive models more useful in management and climate change adaptation.
