Tracking information production and use in adaptive management

Lei, S., A. Iles, and M. Kelly. 2015. Characterizing the networks of digital information that support collaborative adaptive forest management in Sierra Nevada forests. Environmental Management 56(1): 94-109

Tracking where some of our lidar papers are being citedSome of the factors that can contribute to the success of collaborative adaptive management – such as social learning, open communication, and trust - are built upon a foundation of the open exchange of information about science and management between participants and the public.  Despite the importance of information transparency, the use and flow of information in collaborative adaptive management has not been characterized in detail in the literature, and currently there exist opportunities to develop strategies for increasing the exchange of information, as well as to track information flow in such contexts. We use powerful new information monitoring tools to characterize information products generated in the SNAMP program through their production, transport, use, and monitoring.

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20th-century shifts in forest structure in California - evidence from the VTM dataset

McIntyre, P. J., J. H. Thorne, C. R. Dolanc, A. L. Flint, L. E. Flint, M. Kelly and D. D. Ackerly. 2015. Twentieth-century shifts in forest structure in California: Denser forests, smaller trees, and increased dominance of oaks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(5): 1458-1463

change in climate water deficit (left) and change in large trees (right)We document changes in forest structure between historical (1930s) and contemporary (2000s) surveys of California vegetation through comparisons of tree abundance and size across the state and within several ecoregions. Across California, tree density in forested regions increased by 30% between the two time periods, whereas forest biomass in the same regions declined, as indicated by a 19% reduction in basal area. These changes reflect a demographic shift in forest structure: larger trees (>60 cm diameter at breast height) have declined, whereas smaller trees (<30 cm) have increased. Large tree declines were more severe in areas experiencing greater increases in climatic water deficit since the 1930s, based on a hydrologicmodel of water balance for historical climates through the 20th century.

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Sampling effects in PPGIS and VGI for public lands management

Brown, G., M. Kelly and D. Whital. 2013. Which “public”? Sampling effects in public participation GIS (PPGIS) and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) systems for public lands management. Journal of Environmental Planning and Environment 57(2): 190-214. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2012.741045

Web 2.0 technologies including Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) provide methods for engaging multiple publics in public lands management. We examined the effects of sampling in a PPGIS/VGI application for national forest planning in the U.S. A random sample (RS) of households and a volunteer public (VP) were invited to participate in an internet-based PPGIS to identify national forest values and use preferences. Spatial and non-spatial group responses were analysed. The VP group expressed stronger utilitarian values and consumptive use preferences while the RS group preferred forest amenities. These results would lead to different planning decisions. PPGIS/VGI methods should include scientific sampling to ground-truth voluntary participation. Journal Link.

Key words: public participation . PPGIS . volunteered geographic information . VGI . forest planning . public lands

Using the web as a participatory tool in adaptive management

Kelly, M., S. Ferranto, S. Lei, K. Ueda, L. Huntsinger. 2012. Expanding the table: The web as a tool for participatory adaptive management in California forests. Journal of Environmental Management 109: 1-11

Participatory adaptive management is widely promoted as the new paradigm in public lands management. It is grounded in two underlying principles - that management experiments and diverse sources of information should be used to continually refine management in complex ecological systems, and that the public must be included throughout the adaptive management process. Access to scientific results and exchange of information is at the core of both of these principles. The recent proliferation of Internet communities and web-based participation tools raises the question of how the Internet might help facilitate information exchange in participatory adaptive management. Using a case study approach, the role of web technologies in facilitating the flow of transparent and useful information was examined in a participatory adaptive management project focused on Forest Service vegetation management treatments in California’s Sierra Nevada.

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Cal-adapt is PE&RS cover story

June 2011 cover story on cal-adaptKoy,
 K.,
 S.
 V.
 Wart,
 B. Galey, 
M. 
O’Connor, 
and 
M. 
Kelly. 2011. 
Cal‐Adapt:
 Bringing
 global 
climate 
change 
data 
to 
local
 application. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 77(6): 546-550

June's PE&RS cover story features the Cal-Adapt web application developed by the GIF.  Cal-adapt has been developed to showcase the wealth of innovative climate change research being produced by the scientific community in California, as documented in the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy. Through a combination of locally relevant information, visualization tools, and access to primary data, Cal-Adapt allows users to investigate how the climate is projected to change in their area of interest, and gives them tools to plan for these changes.

Our article can be found here.

Oakmapper: citizen science, webGIS, and volunteered information

Connors, J., S. Lei and M. Kelly. 2012. Citizen science in the age of neogeography: utilizing volunteered geographic information for environmental monitoring. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102(6): 1267-1289

The interface between neogeography and citizen science has great potential for environmental monitoring, but this nexus has been explored less often than each subject individually. In this article we review the emerging role of volunteered geographic information in citizen science, and present a case study of an integrated toolset that engages multiple types of users (from targeted citizen-based observation networks, expert-driven focused monitoring, and opportunistic crowdsourcing efforts) in monitoring a forest disease in the western U.S.

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Web‐based participatory research informatics

Pederson et al. 2007. Ecological Informatics. Scientific datasets are often generated and used by “communities”, or groups of users and creators. Here we describe a system for promoting collaboration in the creation, maintenance, and use of dynamic data over the web.

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Digitization of the Wieslander California vegetation type mapping project

Kelly, M., B. Allen-Diaz, and N. Kobzina. 2005. Digitization of a historic dataset: the Wieslander California vegetation type mapping project. Madroño 52(3):191-201

Scanned VTM plot map

We digitized and made available via the web the plot data and plot locations for the California VTM database. This is a valuable dataset for historical ecological reconstruction. Pdf download.

Key Words: VTM dataset . webGIS . digital database . California plant communities

Geospatial informatics for management of Sudden Oak Death

Kelly, et al. 2004. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. For a geographer viewing the early days of the SOD epidemic, there were several intriguing spatial aspects on which a monitoring system could be built, including: 1) disease impact was clearly visible at multiple spatial scales, making remote sensing useful in the monitoring process; 2) disease spread and consequent mortality were patchy at landscape scales, making spatial analysis useful; 3) the disease appeared to be spatially regulated, making accurate spatial data collected using GPS and maintained and mapped using GIS critical; and 4) public awareness and concern about the disease were high, and public participation was needed in the monitoring/tracking process, making webGIS and cartography immediately useful tools for information distribution and management assistance.

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webGIS as a tool for sustainable natural resource management

Kearns et al. 2003. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Whether tracking invasive species, assessing water quality, or monitoring the spread of disease, comprehensive data collection is a key component of sustainable natural resource management. Increasingly, fostering community-based monitoring is seen as a valuable way to augment data gathering and enhance public involvement in environmental management.

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