Decision-making in wildlife management is a complex task. Complexity comes from having multiple objectives, uncertainty around outcomes, and working within social and ecological systems that are extremely complicated. In an interdisciplinary field that brings together human and wildlife interests, science, and politics, it is clear why a formal decision making process would be useful.
A new paper describes how decision making has traditionally occurred in the field, and uses the “structured decision science approach” to make suggestions for improvements. This approach focuses on the values and preferences of stakeholders and decision makers to guide generation of objectives.
For wildlife management decisions, such as the creation of a wildlife corridor, engaging the public in decision making is key. Not only will it result in increased trust and acceptance of decisions, but it also informs the decision making process. Stakeholder feedback and insights become essential parts of the process, as they provide perspective on alternative management solutions, and bring up necessary preference and values that must be considered.
Adaptive management builds on the structured approach to add iterative decision making based on changes in a system and adapting to uncertainty. Adaptive management means that decisions can be updated after they are made, especially in light of new information or observations of how decisions are playing out.
Additionally, decisions can’t necessarily be judged based on their outcomes – unintended consequences or changing conditions can lead to unexpected results. Wildlife managers are often operating with imperfect data. Instead, the quality of decision making should be judged on the process used, not the outcomes. A good wildlife management decision is one that aims to achieve a set of objectives, and follows a strategy that will best reach those goals.
Decision making is the “core work” of the wildlife manager, who seeks to integrate the ecological, social, economic, and political elements of a decision to produce outcomes that society values. Many challenges to decision making exist at multiple levels: governance, institution, and individual. From Fuller et al. 2020. Wildilfe Society Bulletin 44: 29-41.
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