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Authors: Ellen Pero, Riley Andrade, Randy Wilson, Laura Brandt, Todd Jones-Farrand, Conor McGowan

Speaker: Laura Brandt (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

Abstract:

Efficient use of assets in natural resource conservation is important given increasing demand (i.e., conservation need) and limited funding. Allocating organizational resources across large federal conservation agencies can be challenging due to large geographic scopes of responsibility, multiple and potentially competing agency objectives, mandated legal constraints, as well as uncertainty in outcomes relative to variable resource inputs and personnel performance. We adopted a values-based, structured decision-making approach and PrOACT framework with the Science Application and...

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Authors: Ashley Goode, Erin Rivenbark, Jessica Gilbert, Conor McGowan

Speaker: Ashley Goode (University of Florida)

Abstract:

Species status assessments are used to inform U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decision-making for Endangered Species Act (ESA) classification decisions, recovery planning, and more. The large number of species that require assessment and uncertainty in the data available impede the process of assigning and completing the assessments, which makes creating a multi-year work plan extremely difficult. An optimized triaging system that maximizes the use of the best available information, while managing the complex ESA workload and meeting deadlines, is necessary. We used a structured decision-making...

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Authors: Melissa R. Price, Kristen C. Harmon, Abbey Camaclang, Tara Martin, Scott Fretz

Speaker: Kristen Harmon (University of Hawai'i at Mānoa)

Abstract:

With hundreds of species at risk and on the brink of extinction, conservation practitioners must decide where to focus effort and which conservation actions to implement given limited funds. Decision processes that aim to maximize conservation benefit for a given cost should address complementarity of actions to ensure that species in low-diversity habitats are not excluded, and both cost and effectiveness of different actions across taxonomic groups. To address this need we modified a Priority Threat Management approach to guide resource allocation decisions for the...

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Author: Jonathan Cummings

Speaker: Jonathan Cummings (US Fish & Wildlife Services)

Abstract:

In the absence of information about risk and without any consideration of risk tolerance, when making a risk management decision, individuals could reasonably select any action from a set of possible actions. Their 'decision space' is not in any way limited in this circumstance. However, a risk assessment or a determination of risk tolerance should make some possible actions less reasonable than others, which constricts the decision space available to decision makers. To help decision makers understand the role of a risk assessment and risk tolerance in risk management decisions, I developed an interactive R Shiny application...

Facilitated by: Laura Brandt (US Fish & Wildlife Services)