| NSF Org: |
DEB Division Of Environmental Biology |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 16, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | November 21, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1231233 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Douglas Levey
DEB Division Of Environmental Biology BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $749,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $749,999.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
875 PERIMETER DR MOSCOW ID US 83844-9803 (208)885-6651 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
PO Box 44138 Moscow ID US 83844-1138 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Global Systems Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
This project will establish a Research Coordination Network (RCN) to develop national and international research collaborations and partnerships to address the overarching question of how to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems in complex mountain landscapes. The Northern Rockies region of the United States contains the largest undeveloped landscapes in the contiguous United States. However, this region is undergoing rapid growth in human populations through both urbanization and ex-urbanization. As is typical of mountain-valley environments throughout the world, this region is a complex coupled natural-human system: a set of landscapes characterized by dramatic ecological and climatic changes and socioeconomic transitions. This effort leverages a core group from the University of Idaho, Washington State University, University of Montana and the United States Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station to coordinate research planning for informing decision processes and sustainable management of forest and water resources in complex mountain landscapes. The research network for this region will be a partnership of academic institutions, state, and federal agencies, Native American tribes, and non-governmental organizations. An important goal of this RCN is to effectively network multiple sources of knowledge on how ecosystems function in complex mountain landscapes for the purpose of improving social and ecological resilience and sustainability of their natural resources and ecosystem services. The work will first demonstrate this process in the Northern Rockies region encompassing Idaho, eastern Washington, western Montana, Wyoming, and southwestern mountain regions of Canada. Subsequent work will extend the model to other complex mountain landscapes nationally and internationally. Extension of the regional model internationally will be facilitated through collaborations and partnerships developed with researchers and organizations in eleven countries throughout Europe, North and South America and through the International Long Term Ecological Research Network.
This project will have substantial broader impacts on local stakeholders and land managers through activities that build and expand partnerships with public, Native American, and private institutions of education and through outreach to inform decision making and governance that improves social and ecological resilience. Education programs will range from creating national and international graduate student associations to curriculum development, with a primary objective being to increase involvement of individuals from underrepresented groups. Annual meetings, national and international workshops, and modern communication capabilities will facilitate exchanges that incorporate findings across local to international boundaries.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Mountain Social Ecological Observatory Network (MtnSEON) was a five-year research coordination network led by the Center for Resilient Communities at the University of Idaho and professors Lilian Alessa and Jim Gosz. MtnSEON represents new collaborations among scientists, managers, and stakeholders in the Western United States, including: universities and tribal colleges in Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado; federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey; and ranchers, farmers, and community members from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington..
The program coordinated research examining diverse challenges in managing mountain landscapes, including conflicts and cooperation between ranchers and forest managers over predator populations, between different agencies over the regulation of river flows and conservation of native salmonids, between ranchers and Native American tribal stakeholders over multi-use landscapes, and between ecologists and economists over the bark-beetle’s impacts on Western forests. These issues are neither solely ecological nor social in nature, and so their successful management requires innovative approaches combining ecological and social thinking and that include understanding the dynamics and interactions among the many aspects of mountain landscapes. An important aspect of this program has been the importance of listening to and incorporating multiple and diverse perspectives and the need to be adaptive to constantly changing circumstances.
The most significant outcome from MtnSEON has been the publication of a special issue in a journal of the Ecological Society of America, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Titled “Social-Ecological Systems in Mountain Landscapes,” the special issue highlights the use of social-ecological systems (SES) science, a field that uses anthropology, ecology, economics, hydrology, and geography to explain the balance between communities, their economies, and the ecosystems around them.
Topics covered in the issue include the human aspects of predator-livestock interactions in the American West, social-ecological perspectives for riverscape management in the Columbia River Basin, and the use of social-ecological observatories to carry out SES studies. While traditional ecology is focused on everything in the environment except for people, the Frontiers special issue, and MtnSEON generally, focuses on the need to look at relationships between people, the environment, ecosystems, and the dynamic interplay between them. This goes some way toward addressing the challenges faced by mountain communities regarding complex environmental issues.
The efforts in social-ecological science championed by MtnSEON paves the way for new directions in research, management, and policy, providing examples of potential methodologies and settings in which SES science can be successfully used and implemented.
Last Modified: 07/24/2018
Modified by: Andrew D Kliskey
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