Broad-scale consequences of land management: Columbia basin example

Integrating management actions to consistently achieve broad ecological and socioeconomic goals is a challenge largely unmet. The presumed or real conflict between these goals establishes a forum for debate. Broad measures are needed to describe tradeoffs, trends in conditions under varying management scenarios, and a transparent science underpinning. The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project in the northwestern United States provides a useful example where scientists, managers, and the public have explored these issues in depth. From a science perspective we conclude that a successful strategy for broad-scale land management will need the ability to do the following: maintain long-term sustainability of resources and ecosystems; maintain socioeconomic resiliency; continually assess results of management activities; manage risks and opportunities through consistent approaches at multiple scales; expand our knowledge base; and adaptively manage for new knowledge and assessments of resource conditions/capabilities.