Progress Report

CICEET Progress Report for the period 9/01/09 Through 2/28/10

Project Title: Collaborative Learning and Land Use Tools to Support Community Based Ecosystem Management
Principal Investigator(s):
Wells NERR - Christine Feurt, Tin Smith, Zack Steele, Jacob Aman;
Town of Sanford - Jim Gulnac;
Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission - Jamie Oman-Saltmarsh
Project Start Date: November 2007
Report Compiled By: Christine Feurt, Ph.D

A. Project Objectives for This Reporting Period

Tier I of the project applies land use technologies including geospatial tools and visualization technology to the development of a Conservation Plan for Sanford, Maine.

Objectives for Tier I addressed during this period

  1. The Sanford project will serve as a case study/demonstration site for the Coastal Training Program of the Wells NERR. Lessons learned will be used to design future land use trainings and workshops. Participants in the Sanford project will be involved in the delivery of training. This objective is critical to the diffusion of new technologies.

Members of the Sanford Conservation Plan Steering Committee and stakeholders participating in the conservation values planning process include representatives from all levels of government, land trusts, watershed groups, NGOs, business and academia. These people provided input into the conservation plan process and tested the application of Collaborative Learning, Community Viz, GIS, and Key pad polling within the boundaries of the project, the first of its kind in the region. The plan, “Headwaters – A Collaborative Conservation Plan for Sanford” is now an approved component of the Sanford, Maine Comprehensive Plan used by the Planning Board in land use decision-making.

The Steering Committee members from the Wells Reserve used products and results from the conservation planning process, including the Key Pad Polling technology in Coastal Training Program events described below in the section entitled: Presentations for diffusion of new technologies

Tier II of the project includes the development and piloting of regional training on the use of Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools for land use planning.

Objectives for Tier II addressed during this period

  1. Increase the land use technology knowledge, skills and abilities of local, state and federal government staff, academics, consultants and NGOs providing support and oversight to land use decision making.
  2. Involve a steering committee of land use decision makers, government staff, consultants, academics and NGOs in the adaptation and design of training using the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Database.
  3. Conduct and evaluate regional training in the use and applications of the resources of the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Database related to land use planning.
  4. Adapt the pilot training to for presentation to additional audiences nationwide as a result of this project

Presentations for diffusion of new technologies

Highlights
Showcasing Sanford Conservation Planning Process and
EBM Tools in Land Use Decision-making

“Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management Training Workshop” course presented to National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) Coastal Training Program Coordinators and NOAA Estuarine Reserves Division (ERD) staff at NERRS/NERRA Annual Conference in San Diego, November 8.

Developed and piloted “Ecosystem Management” course for University of New England in partnership with the UNE Center for Sustainable Communities. The course engaged 15 undergraduate Environmental and Marine Biology majors in a semester long course focusing on ecosystem management in the Gulf of Maine.  The course used Collaborative Learning, EBM tools and social science research techniques to develop profiles of local ecosystem managers and scientists and their work connected to land use decision-making in southern Maine watersheds.

100 copies of Headwaters – A Collaborative Conservation Plan for Sanford, Maine distributed regionally, nationally and internationally through trainings, conferences and workshops. Electronic copy of plan remains available on the Sanford, Maine town website and Wells NERR website.

500 copies of Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management distributed to local, national and international coastal managers and scientists through trainings, conferences and meetings. Part of a previously funded CICEET project on Collaborative Learning and Community Based Ecosystem Management, this practitioner’s guide for education and outreach professionals was combined with the outreach and training for the current project. The guide presents a practical method for implementing ecosystem based management using Collaborative Learning. Distribution of the guide at meetings and conferences and through on line requests is paired with current project objectives to combine technology tools and participatory processes to facilitate community based ecosystem management.

Wells NERR CTP technical expertise with key pad poling and design of participatory processes developed through this project is increasingly being requested for municipal land use planning and decision making processes. Requests for demonstrations, training and partnerships during this period have come from municipalities, state agencies and the NERRS.

Plenary Address New Hampshire Joint Water and Watershed Conference Concord, New Hampshire November 20: The Language of Water – Why Wisdom Sits in Places. Audience of 250 people included federal, state, and local government, watershed organizations from New England region.

Using EBM tools and social science research from this project, the Wells NERR Coastal Training Program, made presentations to educate and facilitate adoption of an ecosystem-based management approach to coastal and watershed management to 780 managers, policy makers and interdisciplinary scientists at regional, national and international conferences described below.

Conferences and Trainings during this period applying project results with stakeholder groups:

    • Ogunquit River Conference, Sept. 26, 6 hours, 42 people, Target Audience: Watershed Residents and Members of Local NGO’s.  Conference to focus attention on protecting shellfish resources, maintaining healthy beaches, and examining impacts of development on beaches and the business community with time for networking and action planning.

    • Sanford Regional Community Development Collaborative, Sept.-Oct. 2009, 20 Hours.  Key pad poling and consultation with the Sanford Maine’s Resource Conservation and Development Commission to investigate stakeholder values in a consensus building exercise as follow up work to the Sanford Conservation Plan developed in 2009 w/ CICEET Grant. 15 people.
    • Mapping with Google Training, Oct. 20th, 15 people Target Audience: State & Local Government Agencies, Non-profits.  Computer based hands on technical training to introduce free Google Earth and Google Maps tools to produce basic GIS maps for print and online.
    • Maine Coastal Waters Conference, Oct. 28th, 8 hours, 200 people.  Audience: Coastal Management Professionals with Government Agencies, Universities, and NGOs.  A Statewide Coastal Management Conference focused on Climate Change, Coastal Economics, and Community Participation in coastal management.

    • The Summit at the Summit. November 2, 2009, 4 hours Wells NERR. Meeting of regional partners working with environmental issues in southern Maine to increase understanding of program scope, target audiences and potential for synergies among the organizations. 10 people.
    • Mapping with Google,  Nov. 3rd, 13 people Target Audience: State & Local Government Agencies, Non-profits.  Computer based hands on technical training to introduce free Google Earth and Google Maps tools to produce basic GIS maps for print and online.
    • Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management, Nov. 8th, 9 NERRS CTP Coordinators (including ERD), 8 hours. Techniques of Collaborative Learning to facilitate ecosystem based management in the NERRS.
    • Mapping with Google,  Dec.15th, 9 people Target Audience: State & Local Government Agencies, Non-profits.  Computer based hands on technical training to introduce free Google Earth and Google Maps tools to produce basic GIS maps for print and online.
    • Mapping with Google Webinar in partnership with EBM Tools Network, October, 27th, 161 people. Target Audience:  International Coastal Decision Makers interested applying free GIS tools. Online seminar designed to demonstrate potential uses of Google Earth and Google Maps to create, collaborate, and share Geographic Information.
    • Science Communication Workshop with the Integration and Application Network, January 11-12, 2010, 20 people. Target audience: federal, state and municipal decision makers, NGOs, academia. Skill building workshop on use of computer generated conceptual diagrams and In Design software to develop and deliver science concepts to policy makers, hosted with the University of New England Center for Sustainable Communities.

10 Events – Total Participants: 494

Presentations at Conferences during this period sharing project results and engaging stakeholders in discussions:

  • University of Maine Natural Resources Program Seminar September 14, Orono, ME: “Protecting Our Children’s Water” Using Collaborative Learning to Frame and Implement Ecosystem Management. 35 people.
  • University of New Hampshire Research Seminar October 1, Durham, NH: Headwaters – Developing a Collaborative Conservation Approach to Support Land Use Decision-Making. 20 people.
  • Gulf Of Maine Conference Gulf of Maine Symposium Advancing Ecosystem Research for the Future of the Gulf, St Andrews, New Brunswick Canada October 6, 2009: What would Don Quixote Do? Exploring New Paradigms in Ecosystem Management. 200 people.
  • Maine Municipal Association- Oct. 8th Presentation for municipal staff on using Key-Pad Polling for building consensus among stakeholders for effective grant writing. 30 people
  • Maine Coastal Waters Conference October 28, Lincolnville, ME.  From the Headwaters to the Sea Tools for Implementing a Watershed Approach in Coastal Watersheds. 50 people.
  • Plenary Speaker New Hampshire Joint Water and Watershed Conference Concord, New Hampshire November 20: The Language of Water – Why Wisdom Sits in Places. 250 people. 
  • University of New England State of the Science Saco River Estuary. December 1, UNE: facilitated session with 10 interdisciplinary researchers working to identify research in progress with application to land use decision making.
  • 108th American Association of Anthropology Annual Conference – The Ends of Anthropology December 5, Philadelphia, PA. Protecting Our Children’s Water Using Cultural Models and Collaborative Learning to Frame and Implement Ecosystem Management. 50 people.

11 Conference Presentations – 780 people

Diffusion and adoption of project outputs and approaches by stakeholders during the period:

  • Deborah Cox Callister of the University of Utah adopted the “Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management” guide as a text for her special topics in communication course, Environmental Conflict for the fall 2009 semester. 20 undergraduate science majors used the guide.
  • The Collaborative Learning Guide was adopted as a text for Dr. Feurt’s Environmental Communications course for spring semester 2010. 20 undergraduate science majors used the guide.
  • The Collaborative Learning Guide and methodology was used in an ecosystem management workshop hosted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for scientists and managers working with Phragmites australis control. The workshop engaged 30 federal land managers and research scientists in a science to management discussion to improve the control and management of Phragmites on public lands in the northeast United States. Adoption of Collaborative Learning for this workshop was a direct result of diffusions of this CICEET funded project to the refuge manager at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and his decision to use Collaborative Learning to facilitate ecosystem management.

B. Data Generated

  • Training materials for Collaborative Learning workshops.
  • Power Point presentations for trainings and conferences.
  • Key pad poling demonstration materials.
  • Evaluations of trainings, conferences and workshops.

C. Project objectives March – September 2010 reporting period:
Focus will be on Tier II of the project including continued development and piloting of regional trainings on the use of Collaborative Learning and Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools for land use planning.
Conduct Collaborative Learning Workshop for Cooperative Extension Professionals in the University of Maine System, March 8.

Conduct Key Pad Polling Session for Science Policy Workshop at Jacques Cousteau NERR, March 15 – 17.

Incorporate Collaborative Learning and Key Pad Poling approach in Saco River Estuary Project with UNE Center for Sustainable Communities, on going January – September, 2010.

Conduct Collaborative Learning Workshop for South Carolina NERRS, July 2010.

Consult with NERRS Science Collaborative to investigate the possibility of adapting Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management as a nationwide course. 

Prepare invited scientific paper for American Fisheries Society Journal based upon presentation given to October 2009 Gulf Of Maine Conference Gulf of Maine Symposium Advancing Ecosystem Research for the Future of the Gulf.

Prepare final report, training materials, outreach products to complete the project in August 2010.

D. Expenditures
Expenditures are on track for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 objectives. A no cost extension has been granted to carry the project through August 2010.

E. Additional Comments
This section of the report documents the evolving conceptual framework of the project. The RFP provided guidelines for developing an approach to improving land use decision-making at a national scale. Our initial proposal presented our objectives, strategies and work plan for the way our project addresses the national challenge articulated in the RFP. Each six month reporting period provides the opportunity for analysis and reflection about the ways our research is progressing and the degree to which that original conceptual framework holds true or is transforming. The section below is an informal formative evaluation discussing some of the ways our project is transforming as we progress toward the completion of the grant in August 2010. During the period from September 2009 through March 2010 engagement with land use stakeholders, EBM tool experts, and scientists whose research has application to land use occurred during meetings, workshops and in University class rooms. These opportunities to share findings from the project have provided important insights informing the evolving conceptual framework for the ways Collaborative Learning and technology tools can be effectively combined to facilitate community-based ecosystem management.

The integrative aspects of the project as articulated in the original proposal remain strong.

"This project brings the interdisciplinary orientation of ecosystem management, the information processing rigor of land use planning tools and the communication facilitation principles of Collaborative Learning together to influence the institutions responsible for the system of land use and water quality in the Gulf of Maine. At every stage of the project the knowledge and experience of the diverse stakeholders actively wrestling with land use issues will be treated like a resource." (Feurt, et al., 2006 p.4)

Land use decision-making in Maine occurs within a network of governmental structures, citizen participation, municipal staff and board members. Collaboration among groups with differing missions and mandates, scopes of authority and statutory constraints presents barriers to the incorporation of science in the decision making process (Feurt, 2007). This CICEET project is examining the nature of barriers that block the application of relevant social and biophysical science that has the potential for fostering a holistic or systematic approach to sustainable land use (Public Policy Research Institute, 2007). This examination of barriers occurs at two scales. Tier I examines process at the municipal scale. Tier II examines broad scale barriers that influence the application of EBM practices and tools within the institutional infrastructure that interacts with the municipal land use decision-making system through policy mandates, regulation, funding, provision of technical assistance and generation and application of scientific knowledge.

Tier I of this project is testing ways that the land use decision making processes at the local scale can use collaborative engagement of stakeholders, spatial analysis techniques and technology tools for community engagement to:

  1. Engage stakeholders in the process of identifying conservation values important in their community.
  2. Apply spatial analysis techniques to locate the areas in the landscape that provide the ecosystem services connected to community conservation values.
  3. Show and describe areas of conservation value to municipal land use decision-makers in a plan with associated GIS resources and a suite of conservation strategies that can be used by the town to prioritize actions, form partnerships to achieve conservation goals and secure funding for accomplishing town conservation goals.
  4. Facilitate the cognitive connection between traditional economic values associated with land use and the concept of ecosystem services or green infrastructure through the language of the plan and communication strategies about the plan.

Tier II of this project investigates the connections between ecosystem-based management and land use. At the outset of this project, a series of locally relevant surveys identified barriers to the implementation of an EBM approach. As part of this project we met with practitioners from organizations using EBM practices (even if they were not calling them EBM) at a variety of scales in Maine. We used the results of the EBM surveys and our stakeholder meetings to develop trainings that addressed different aspects of implementing an EBM approach. The EBM Tools Network is a partner in the training design providing support for the needs assessment, training design and implementation.

Four EBM focused workshops in the fall of 2008 provided:

  1. A review of approaches used to implement EBM
  2. Examples of science that supports EBM
  3. Skill development associated with application of technology based tools
  4. Opportunity for practitioners, tool designers, consultants, scientists and the investigators on this grant to discuss EBM and land use.

Collaborative Learning Workshops, a Science Communication workshop and a University courses in Ecosystem Management and Environmental Communication developed during 2009 and 2010 expanded understanding of the challenges for applying ecosystem management at the community level as a framework for land use planning, conservation and management.

Cost and the closely linked attribute of expertise appear to be the dominant barriers to the application of EBM tools technology and Collaborative Learning with the potential for improving land use decision-making. Tool designers frequently underestimate the expertise gap separating tool designers and targeted end users.  Spanning the expertise gap is possible with adequate funding and support for training. However, skill building does not address barriers associated with creating locally relevant data sets. Land use decision-makers attending our trainings in southern Maine want local data used in trainings. Seeing that an EBM tool has been used successfully in Maine overcomes initial resistance to new tools. The next barrier is capacity to use a tool identified as appropriate and desirable.

As a result of CICEET funding for the Sanford Conservation Plan project, we have a local data set and case study based in Maine. The Wells NERR and Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission increased organizational capacity to use EBM tools regionally. As a boundary-spanning organization, facilitating EBM, the Wells NERR could continue to build capacity for EBM tools applied to land use if the costs associated with bridging the expertise gap could be reduced. Addressing capacity for Collaborative Learning does not face the technology challenges that using tools like Community Viz and Key Pad poling present. This project has been successful in developing practitioner training in Collaborative Learning in modules of 1, 3 and 6 hours length. Education and outreach professionals can participate in these trainings to increase their already strong skills in facilitation.

We can continue to diffuse lessons learned from this project regionally and nationally and internationally beyond the scope of the grant through the Wells NERR Coastal Training Program, but the ability of others to adopt our approach using EBM technology tools is severely constrained by the costs associated with bridging the expertise gap and the time required by local experts to input local data to make a tool relevant. Rapidly developing coastal regions with rural areas like Maine are the places where improved land use decision-making can make a difference in environmental outcomes that prevent loss of rather that try to restore ecosystem services. These places are frequently the places where the financial resources required by complex technology tools are unavailable. The financial disparity between the budgets of local land use planning offices and the costs associate with importing outside expertise is staggering. During the remainder of this project the investigators will continue discussions within the NERRS, the NERRS Science Collaborative, the EBM Tools Network and NOAA Coastal Service Center to build capacity at the local level were land use decision makers are more directly linked to the landscapes their decisions affect.

References

  1. Feurt, C. 2003. Cultural Models - a Tool for Enhancing Communication and Collaboration in Coastal Resources Management. Report Submitted to the NOAA/UNH CICEET

  2. Feurt, C. 2006. Science translation for non-point source pollution control - A cultural models approach with municipal officials. Report NOAA/UNH CICEET http://ciceet.unh.edu/ 

  3. Feurt, C. 2007.“Protecting Our Children’s Water” Using Cultural Models and Collaborative Learning to Frame and Implement Ecosystem Management. Ph.D. Dissertation submitted to Antioch University New England, Keene, New Hampshire.

  4. Feurt, C. 2008. Collaborative Learning for Ecosystem Management. Wells NERR. Available at http://swim.wellsreserve.org/ctp/Collaborative%20Learning%20Guide.pdf

  5. Feurt, C. 2009. Collaborative Learning Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Science Translation in Coastal Watershed Management. Report Submitted to The NOAA/UNH Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET). Available at http://ciceet.unh.edu/ 

  6. Feurt, C., T. Smith, J. Gulnac. 2006. Collaborative Learning and Land Use Tools to Support Community Based Ecosystem Management. Proposal submitted to CICEET.

  7. Feurt, C., T. Smith and Z. Steele. 2009. Headwaters, A Collaborative Conservation Plan for Sanford, Maine. Available at http://swim.wellsreserve.org/ctp/Sanford%20Conservation%20Plan%2009.pdf

  8. Public Policy Research Institute. 2007. Responding to Streams of Land Use Disputes: A Systems Approach, Practical Strategies for Planners, Decision-makers, and Stakeholders. Policy Report # 5 of the Public Policy Research Institute and the Consensus Building Institute. University of Montana, Bozeman, Montana.