Adaptive Management Overview

According to a Department of the Interior (DOI), adaptive management is an iterative approach to natural resource policy that entails "...learning and adapting, through partnerships of managers, scientists, and other stakeholders who learn together how to create and maintain sustainable ecosystems". The adjacent figure shows that the adaptive management process embodies a simple imperative: On-the-ground management policies are experiments. After assessing the problem, we design the experiment, implement it, monitor the results (data) that come out from that experiment, evaluate the data, and learn from it. From what we learn we modify our plans as needed, implement the revised plans, measure again, learn...and repeat!

IBMP Adaptive Management History

The IBMP has operated under an adaptive management framework since the signing of the IBMP Record of Decision in 2000. Adjustments have been made to the framework numerous times, as captured in the documents that follow. The IBMP Partners created a formal adaptive management plan in Dec 2008 that incorporated changes made since the 2000 ROD. Since that point the IBMP Adaptive Management Plan has been considered a living document, updated annually as appropriate. As such, the most recent Adaptive Managment Plan shown below is the one that the IBMP is currently operating under.

• 2008: December 2008 Adaptive Management Plan (created as a single document encompassing post GAO review; this document was intended to collect all past adaptive managment changes, plus add new ones per Partner deliberations, into a single place)
• 2006: IBMP Adaptive Management Changes 2006 (shown as changes to the Operating Procedures)
• 2005: IBMP 5-year status review. The status review document recommends adaptive management adjustments to incorporate hunting as a new tool for managing bison abundance and distribution, as addressed in this memo.
• 2000: IBMP Record of Decision (adaptive management described under "steps 1,2, and 3")