Multiple Management Objectives Research Articles

Implementing nature conservation through integrated forest management: A street-level bureaucracy perspective on the German public forest sector

Integrated forest management–pursuing multiple management objectives on the same area–is one important approach to reconciling conflicting demands towards forests. While a few studies have examined its implementation at a local level, the literature is thus far lacking detailed analyses of how forestry professionals perceive and implement the integration of multiple demands towards public forests, as well as what factors are influencing local level decision-making. This study attempts to fill this gap. Focusing on nature conservation aspects and their integration into public forest management, where a primary objective is timber production, we examine the implementation of integrated forest management in five German Länder (German federal states) as perceived by state forest enterprise rangers (Revierleiter). Our findings indicate a great willingness and commitment among forest rangers to implement integrative nature conservation approaches through integrated forest management. However, there are also a number of factors that hinder their implementation. In particular there is a mismatch between the demands placed on rangers and the support provided to them regarding time, more flexible timber targets, and financial as well as personnel resources. We argue that the practical implementation of integrative nature conservation requires more favorable conditions which can actually facilitate the balancing of multiple demands through integrated forest management.

Using fisheries modeling to assess candidate species for marine fisheries enhancement

Selecting target species or stocks in which releases of hatchery fish can contribute effectively to fisheries management goals is a key challenge in many fisheries enhancement programs. Here we show how fisheries modeling informed by stock assessments can be used to evaluate contributions of stocked fish to fisheries and how these contributions are influenced by life history and fishery attributes including regulatory policies and angler effort. We built an age-structured population model to quantitatively assess enhancement contributions to multiple fisheries management objectives: predicted catch, predicted harvest, abundance of catchable fish, abundance of harvestable fish and total spawning biomass. We used this model to evaluate candidate species for marine fisheries enhancement in Florida, where hatchery production capacity is scheduled to expand over the next decade yet it is unclear how fisheries managers can best use this capacity to achieve management objectives. We evaluated five candidate marine fishes in Florida: red drum Sciaenops ocellatus, spotted seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus, common snook Centropomus undecimalis, southern flounder Paralichthys lethostigma and red snapper Lutjanus campechanus. Comparative analysis shows that contribution of released fish to fisheries outcomes tend to decline with increasing time between release and capture or harvest. Enhancement of red drum, a species targeted by anglers during sub-adult life stages, is predicted to yield lower numbers of stocked fish entering the recruited population compared to alternative species but to contribute more to catch and harvest objectives. Our results demonstrate how commonly available biological information can be integrated with quantitative modeling approaches to provide useful information to managers tasked with identifying best uses of increasing enhancement capacity.

Server Workload Model Identification: Monitoring and Control Tools for Linux

Server power control in data centers is a coordinated process carefully designed to reach multiple data center management objectives. The main objectives include avoiding power capacity overloads and system overheating, as well as fulfilling service-level agreements (SLAs). In addition to the primary goals, server control process aims to maximize various energy efficiency metrics subject to reliability constraints. Monitoring of data center performance is fundamental for its efficient management. In order to keep track of how well the computing tasks are processed, cluster control systems need to collect accurate measurements of activities of cluster components. This paper presents a brief overview of performance and power consumption monitoring tools available in the Linux systems.

Impact of Management on Avian Communities in the Scottish Highlands

The protection of biodiversity is a key national and international policy objective. While protected areas provide one approach, a major challenge lies in understanding how the conservation of biodiversity can be achieved in the context of multiple land management objectives in the wider countryside. Here we analyse metrics of bird diversity in the Scottish uplands in relation to land management types and explore how bird species composition varies in relation to land managed for grazing, hunting and conservation. Birds were surveyed on the heather moorland areas of 26 different landholdings in Scotland. The results indicate that, in relation to dominant management type, the composition of bird species varies but measures of diversity and species richness do not. Intensive management for grouse shooting affects the occurrence, absolute and relative abundance of bird species. While less intensive forms of land management appear to only affect the relative abundance of species, though extensive sheep grazing appears to have little effect on avian community composition. Therefore enhanced biodiversity at the landscape level is likely to be achieved by maintaining heterogeneity in land management among land management units. This result should be taken into account when developing policies that consider how to achieve enhanced biodiversity outside protected areas, in the context of other legitimate land-uses.

Structured decision making for managing pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep

ABSTRACTGood decision‐making is essential to conserving wildlife populations. Although there may be multiple ways to address a problem, perfect solutions rarely exist. Managers are therefore tasked with identifying decisions that will best achieve desired outcomes. Structured decision making (SDM) is a method of decision analysis used to identify the most effective, efficient, and realistic decisions while accounting for values and priorities of the decision maker. The stepwise process includes identifying the management problem, defining objectives for solving the problem, developing alternative approaches to achieve the objectives, and formally evaluating which alternative is most likely to accomplish the objectives. The SDM process can be more effective than informal decision‐making because it provides a transparent way to quantitatively evaluate decisions for addressing multiple management objectives while incorporating science, uncertainty, and risk tolerance. To illustrate the application of this process to a management need, we present an SDM‐based decision tool developed to identify optimal decisions for proactively managing risk of pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in Montana. Pneumonia epizootics are a major challenge for managers due to long‐term impacts to herds, epistemic uncertainty in timing and location of future epizootics, and consequent difficulty knowing how or when to manage risk. The decision tool facilitates analysis of alternative decisions for how to manage herds based on predictions from a risk model, herd‐specific objectives, and predicted costs and benefits of each alternative. Decision analyses for 2 example herds revealed that meeting management objectives necessitates specific approaches unique to each herd. The analyses showed how and under what circumstances the alternatives are optimal compared to other approaches and current management. Managers can be confident that these decisions are effective, efficient, and realistic because they explicitly account for important considerations managers implicitly weigh when making decisions, including competing management objectives, uncertainty in potential outcomes, and risk tolerance. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

Modelling multiple management objectives in fisheries: Australian experiences

Incorporating social and economic relationships, together with ecological sustainability objectives into models to provide management advice creates a number of challenges, particularly when this advice requires complex trade-offs between objectives. This is further complicated by differences in quality and quantity of data across fisheries, and difficulties in quantifying some measures, particularly around social objectives and outcomes. Internationally, a wide variety of approaches have been used, some as part of the formal management strategy evaluation process, and others more exploratory. In this paper, we outline the general challenges around incorporating multiple objectives into models for management advice under different levels of data availability. We present three case Australian study fisheries where different approaches have been used to include social, economic and ecological considerations, reflecting the differences in data types and availability. We focus on Australian fisheries as these were among the first in the world to embrace a management objective of maximizing net economic returns as the primary objective of fisheries management, and, more recently, social objectives have increasingly been promoted in fisheries management. Quantifying the latter has created challenges for the development of fisheries models, requiring innovate ways to link the different components.

Optimizing regulatory requirements to aid in the implementation of compensatory mitigation

Optimizing regulatory requirements to aid in the implementation of compensatory mitigation

The Cost of Co-viability in the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery

Fisheries management must address multiple, often conflicting objectives in a highly uncertain context. In particular, while the bio-economic performance of trawl fisheries is subject to high levels of biological and economic uncertainty, the impact of trawling on broader biodiversity is also a major concern for their management. The purpose of this study is to propose an analytical framework to formally assess the trade-offs associated with balancing biological, economic and non-target species conservation objectives. We use the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF), which is one of the most valuable federally managed commercial fisheries in Australia, as a case study. We develop a stochastic co-viability assessment of the fishery under multiple management objectives. Results show that, due to the variability in the interactions between the fishery and the ecosystem, current management strategies are characterized by biological and economic risks. Results highlight the trade-offs between respecting biological, economic and non-target species conservation constraints at each point in time with a high probability and maximizing the net present value of the fishery.

Optimization of net returns from wildlife consumptive and non-consumptive uses by game reserve management

SUMMARYLandowners and game reserve managers are often faced with the decision whether to undertake consumptive (such as hunting) and/or non-consumptive (such as tourism) use of wildlife resources on their properties. Here a theoretical model was used to examine cases where the game reserve management allocated the amount of land devoted to hunting (trophy hunting) and tourism, based on three scenarios: (1) hunting is separated from tourism but wildlife is shared; (2) hunting and tourism co-exist; and (3) hunting and tourism are separated by a fence. The consumptive and non-consumptive uses are not mutually exclusive; careful planning is needed to ensure that multiple management objectives can be met. Further, the analysis indicates that the two uses may be undertaken in the same area. Whether they are spatially, or temporally separated depends on the magnitude of the consumptive use. When consumptive use is not dominant, the two are compatible in the same shared area, provided the wildlife population is sufficiently large.

Assessing uncertainty associated with the monitoring and evaluation of spatially managed areas

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is advocated to support an ecosystem approach to marine management, as it allows consideration of multiple management objectives including marine conservation. The monitoring and evaluation of both implemented marine plans and the planning process itself is susceptible to various uncertainties. Here, uncertainties related to a stepwise monitoring and evaluation framework for spatially managed areas were characterised and quantified with the help of two modified and developed tools. In particular, Walker-type and pedigree matrices were utilised to assess both the sources and respective relative levels of uncertainty present in the assessment of nine European case studies that conducted a stepwise monitoring and evaluation process applying a common framework. Across the southern and northern European case studies major sources of uncertainty were found in relation to the knowledge base, management scenarios with related objectives and data availability. Although case studies made flexible use of the framework to account for the particularities of the local realms, the revealed pattern of associated uncertainty was highly consistent across the case studies. The scored pedigree matrices showed that the criteria ‘stakeholder engagement’ and ‘cross validation’ had greatest influence on the overall robustness of the case study assessments. The observed distribution of median pedigree scores was within acceptable ranges with respect to simulated possible score distributions. In addition, a sensitivity analysis revealed that the scoring of the pedigree criteria by five or more experts would result in less variable interquartile ranges of respective median scores. In conclusion, the developed complementary tools showed great flexibility in characterising and assessing uncertainty despite context-dependent differences among case studies such as geographical area, quality of available data, level of spatial management implementation or management objectives. Moreover, the obtained findings allow prioritising efforts and future research to support an iterative monitoring and evaluation of marine spatial plans.

Targeting Multiple Management Objectives in Sustainable Fisheries

Modern fisheries management must balance between return (economic value) and risk (harvest uncertainty and stock collapse). Management tools should target multiple simultaneous management objectives. These include output, number of seasons, total stock value and its uncertain fluctuations. I provide a stylized fishery model for simulating the outcomes of these competing management objectives under various regulatory and market environments. Results show that these objectives need not be mutually exclusive. They can be traded off gradually, quantitatively and transparently. The trade-offs involve profit and output versus job provision, employment security, stock conservation and less-risky harvesting. The pursuit of higher return must balance against the risk of stock collapse and harvest fluctuations.

Integrated production planning and control: A multi-objective optimization model

Purpose: Production planning and control has crucial impact on the production and business activities of enterprise. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the most popular resources planning and management system, however there are some shortcomings and deficiencies in the production planning and control because its core component is still the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) . For the defects of ERP system, many local improvement and optimization schemes have been proposed , and improve the feasibility and practicality of the plan in some extent, but study considering the whole planning system optimization in the multiple performance management objectives and achieving better application performance is less. The purpose of this paper is to propose a multi-objective production planning optimization model Based on the point of view of the integration of production planning and control, in order to achieve optimization and control of enterprise manufacturing management. Design/methodology/approach: On the analysis of ERP planning system’s defects and disadvantages, and related research and literature, a multi-objective production planning optimization model is proposed, in addition to net demand and capacity, multiple performance management objectives, such as on-time delivery, production balance, inventory, overtime production, are considered incorporating into the examination scope of the model, so that the manufacturing process could be management and controlled Optimally between multiple objectives. T he validity and practicability of the model will be verified by the instance in the last part of the paper . Findings: The main finding is that production planning management of manufacturing enterprise considers not only the capacity and materials, but also a variety of performance management objectives in the production process , and building a multi-objective optimization model can effectively optimize the management and control of enterprise manufacturing . Practical implications: By setting cost parameters for all kinds of production objectives, mangers can maintain the balances among multiple objectives, and achieve the optimized management and control in the manufacturing process. Originality/value: This paper propose a multi-objective production planning optimization model, which can consider multiple performance management objectives of manufacturing process, and can achieve effective planning and control of production process of enterprise.

Effects of Management Intervention on Post-Disturbance Community Composition: An Experimental Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models

As human demand for ecosystem products increases, management intervention may become more frequent after environmental disturbances. Evaluations of ecological responses to cumulative effects of management interventions and natural disturbances provide critical decision-support tools for managers who strive to balance environmental conservation and economic development. We conducted an experiment to evaluate the effects of salvage logging on avian community composition in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests affected by beetle outbreaks in Oregon, USA, 1996–1998. Treatments consisted of the removal of lodgepole pine snags only, and live trees were not harvested. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify occupancy dynamics for 27 breeding species, while accounting for variation in the detection process. We examined how magnitude and precision of treatment effects varied when incorporating prior information from a separate intervention study that occurred in a similar ecological system. Regardless of which prior we evaluated, we found no evidence that the harvest treatment had a negative impact on species richness, with an estimated average of 0.2–2.2 more species in harvested stands than unharvested stands. Estimated average similarity between control and treatment stands ranged from 0.82–0.87 (1 indicating complete similarity between a pair of stands) and suggested that treatment stands did not contain novel assemblies of species responding to the harvesting prescription. Estimated treatment effects were positive for twenty-four (90%) of the species, although the credible intervals contained 0 in all cases. These results suggest that, unlike most post-fire salvage logging prescriptions, selective harvesting after beetle outbreaks may meet multiple management objectives, including the maintenance of avian community richness comparable to what is found in unharvested stands. Our results provide managers with prescription alternatives to respond to severe beetle outbreaks that continue to occur across extensive portions of the dry forests of western North America.

Effects of Land-Use Change on Water in Andean Páramo Grassland Soils

Mountain environments, including the Andean páramo grasslands of Ecuador, are important water source areas. They are often sites of programs and policies intended to achieve multiple management objectives, such as carbon sequestration, biological conservation, and water resource protection; yet such environments are often data poor. This creates challenges for programs that compensate landowners for protecting ecosystem services and uncertainty regarding which land uses are compatible. For example, does afforestation for carbon sequestration complement or hinder efforts to protect water resources in Andean páramos? We compared characteristics of high-elevation soil profiles at sites in two Ecuadorian páramo study areas and measured soil–water properties to assess whether changes in land use affected the soil hydrology. Using a space-for-time substitution, we compared soils in plantations of pines and Polylepis racemosa in grasslands with different grazing and burning regimes. Methods included soil description in soil pits; soil moisture measurement in soil pits and across surface transects; tracer studies of soil–water movement; and laboratory determination of bulk density, particle size, and humic acid composition. Of the land uses examined, only afforestation significantly affected soil moisture, whereas soil properties did not differ among grassland burning and grazing regimes. The results suggest that afforestation of páramos hinders the production of water and they underscore the need for further investigation to inform the trade-offs needed in managing páramo landscapes to support multiple ecosystem services.

Effort optimisation in artisanal fisheries with multiple management objectives, collective quotas and heterogeneous fleets*

In this study, we analyse effort optimisation in common rights‐based joint‐stock artisanal fisheries when several objectives are pursued by the authorities and the fleets are heterogeneous. The purpose is to discuss policy options available to the authorities and their implications in terms of trade‐offs between goals. We apply a multi‐objective programming model to the sardine and anchovy artisanal fisheries in central southern Chile. The results suggest that the regulatory system generates inefficient solutions for profit and employment maximisation goals. Moreover, the fleet structure of the artisanal organisations is central for the outcomes obtained by different policy simulations. To improve effort assignment, the authorities should seek to increase flexibility in the system.

A System of Indicators for Sustainability: An Example from the Senegalese Fisheries

In most coastal countries the fisheries sector satisfies multiple socioeconomic needs. This is especially the case in many coastal developing countries where fisheries represent a substantial source of food, jobs, and income. However, fisheries exert strong pressures on marine resources with threats to their sustainability. The context of overexploitation of marine resources is combined with a great diversity of stakeholders intervening in the governance of the fisheries. Thus, a better understanding of the challenges fisheries face is essential to enact management policies to ensure sustainability. Through a case study of the Senegalese fisheries, this article develops quantitative indicators of social, economic, and ecological states of the fisheries. Standardized principal components analysis combined with the Hodrick-Prescott filter is used to assess trends in the indicators. These indicators can contribute to an adaptive management framework in a context of multiple management objectives with diverse stakeholders and uncertainty.

Effects of salvage logging of beetle‐killed forests on avian species and foraging guild abundance

AbstractEvaluating spatial and temporal variation in abundance due to anthropogenic and environmental disturbances is a central aspect of wildlife ecology and management. We conducted an experiment to evaluate the effects of salvage logging on the abundance of 22 avian species and 6 foraging guilds in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests affected by beetle outbreaks, south‐central Oregon, USA, 1996–1998. Treatments consisted of the removal of lodgepole pine snags only; live trees and ponderosa pine snags were not harvested. Our hierarchical model requires replicated count data from multiple sample units across several time periods, during which the population is closed, to estimate abundance as a function of logging treatment and management district while accounting for imperfect and variable detection probability. We fit the model to point counts from 12 control and 12 treatment plots with 3 surveys during each breeding season, 1996–1998. We found evidence for a large, but imprecise, effect of salvage logging in all 3 years for only 1 species, the gray flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii). The abundance of the remaining species either did not change or displayed weak positive responses to the treatment. Although 3 foraging guilds increased in total abundance, 2 guilds did not change and the response of 1 guild changed direction in different years. Our results suggest that, unlike most postfire salvage logging prescriptions, selective harvesting after beetle outbreaks may meet multiple management objectives, including the maintenance of avian population sizes comparable to those found in unharvested stands. Future research should consider different sampling programs for those species with large home ranges (e.g., woodpeckers) that may not be sampled adequately using commonly employed programs (e.g., point count stations). © 2012 The Wildlife Society.

Management objectives of Queensland fisheries: Putting the horse before the cart

A review of future management arrangements for the Queensland East Coast Trawl fishery was undertaken in 2010 to develop a management plan for the next 10 years. A key question raised at the start of the review process was: what should the management plan achieve? As with fisheries management in most countries, multiple management objectives were implicit in policy statements, but were poorly specified in some areas (particularly social objectives) and strongly identified in others (e.g., an objective of sustainability). As a start to the management review process, an analysis of what objectives the management system should aim to achieve was undertaken. A review of natural resource management objectives employed internationally was used to develop a candidate list, and the objectives most relevant to the fishery were short-listed by a scientific advisory group. Additional objectives specific to Queensland fisheries management, but not identified in the international review, were also identified and incorporated into the objective set. The relative importance of the different objectives to different stakeholder groups was assessed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. As with other studies, the relative importance of the different objectives varied both within and between the different stakeholder groups, although general trends in preferences were observed.

Does it help? Testing the usefulness of a tool to aid Integrated Catchment Management

Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) advocates the consideration of multiple management objectives together in the decision making process rather than as unconnected separate issues. To deliver ICM, many integrated models are being created to be used as tools that predict how catchment interventions affect multiple management objectives. It is generally assumed that if applied, these tools will improve decision making. In this paper we discuss how this assumption can be tested, and then present preliminary work to do just that. A tool was created to predict how weir modifications such as fish passes affect multiple river ecosystem services in the Don Catchment, UK. These ecosystem services included eel productivity, conservation of an endangered and spread of an invasive crayfish, hydroelectricity generation and river quality for canoeing. In an experiment this tool was used to make hypothetical management decisions, and the quality of the decision making was compared to a control decision making process representative of current practice in the catchment. The experiment was designed to evaluate decision quality by gauging efficiency and moderateness of decisions made, and by measuring the confidence and knowledge gained by participating decision makers. Preliminary results indicate that users of the tool learnt less information about the environmental issue of weir impoundment compared to the more conventional approach. If this effect is common when decision support tools are used to support ICM, then it has implications for how they are designed and utilised in the future.

Balancing Multiple Objectives Using a Classification-Based Forest Management System in Changbai Mountains, China

Contemporary forest management often consists of multiple objectives, including restoration of human-impacted forested landscapes toward their range of natural variability (RNV) and sustainable levels of timber production. Balancing multiple management objectives is often challenging due to intrinsic conflicts between these objectives and a lack of reference conditions for evaluating the effectiveness of forest restoration efforts. We used a spatially explicit forest landscape model to assess how well a classification-based forest management (CFM) system could achieve multiple objectives in a Korean pine broadleaf mixed forest ecosystem at Changbai Mountain in Northeast China. The CFM system divided the forest landscape into three management areas (Commercial Forest, Special Ecological Welfare Forest, and General Ecological Welfare Forest), each with its own management objectives and prescriptions, but with an overall goal of increasing the ecological and economic sustainability of the entire landscape. The zoning approach adopted in the Chinese CFM system is very similar to the TRIAD approach that is being advocated for managing public forests in Canada. In this study, a natural disturbance scenario and seven harvest scenarios (one identical to the current harvest regime and six alternative scenarios) were simulated to examine how tree species composition, age structure, and timber production at the landscape level can be affected by different strategies under the CFM system. The results indicated that the current forest management regime would not only fail to reach the designated timber production level but also move the forest landscape far away from its RNV. In order to return the currently altered forest landscape to approach its RNV while providing a stable level of timber production over time, harvest intensities should be reduced to a level that is equivalent to the amount of timber removals that would occur under the natural disturbances; and the establishment of forest plantations is also required.