Presentation Abstract
In Greek mythology, Zeus solves the paradox of the giant Teumessian fox, which had the power to never be caught, and Laelaps, the magical hound that always caught its prey, by changing them into constellations (Canis major and Canis minor) where their battle could play out for eternity. Zeus’s paradox also aptly describes the play of politics and science in prioritizing ecosystem recovery actions. Faced with the problem of prioritizing across hundreds of actions identified to recover terrestrial, freshwater, and nearshore domains of the Puget Sound, we structured an interactive process to capture both the key socio-political values of decision makers and expert knowledge about ecological effectiveness. Decision makers identified four important values for prioritization: ecological outcomes, strategic outcomes, protection of tribal treaty rights, and implementation issues. At their direction we decomposed the first two into 27 attributes. Technical experts nominated by decision makers evaluated 74 suites of recovery actions proposed for terrestrial, freshwater, and nearshore ecoystems by the attributes. We used a multi-attribute utility theory model with attribute weights developed with the decision makers to rank the 74 suites of recovery actions. Highest ranked were suites of actions focused on protecting ecosystem structure and functions and on balancing the need to accommodate population growth with ecosystem stressors imposed by development.
Session Title
Session S-02F: Presssure and Risk Assessment Tools
Conference Track
Planning Assessment & Communication
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
30-4-2014 1:30 PM
End Date
30-4-2014 3:00 PM
Location
Room 602-603
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Ecosystem management--Washington (State)--Puget Sound--Political aspects; Ecosystem management--Sociolgical aspects--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Puget Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
The Fox and the Hound: Zeus’s Paradox and Prioritizing Ecosystem Recovery
Room 602-603
In Greek mythology, Zeus solves the paradox of the giant Teumessian fox, which had the power to never be caught, and Laelaps, the magical hound that always caught its prey, by changing them into constellations (Canis major and Canis minor) where their battle could play out for eternity. Zeus’s paradox also aptly describes the play of politics and science in prioritizing ecosystem recovery actions. Faced with the problem of prioritizing across hundreds of actions identified to recover terrestrial, freshwater, and nearshore domains of the Puget Sound, we structured an interactive process to capture both the key socio-political values of decision makers and expert knowledge about ecological effectiveness. Decision makers identified four important values for prioritization: ecological outcomes, strategic outcomes, protection of tribal treaty rights, and implementation issues. At their direction we decomposed the first two into 27 attributes. Technical experts nominated by decision makers evaluated 74 suites of recovery actions proposed for terrestrial, freshwater, and nearshore ecoystems by the attributes. We used a multi-attribute utility theory model with attribute weights developed with the decision makers to rank the 74 suites of recovery actions. Highest ranked were suites of actions focused on protecting ecosystem structure and functions and on balancing the need to accommodate population growth with ecosystem stressors imposed by development.
