Over the past twenty years, resource managers around the globe have been working to take the concept of adaptive management and translate it into a practical, on-the-ground resource management tool. The result is that today adaptive management provides the fundamental underpinnings of large-scale ecosystem restoration projects in the Florida Everglades, Columbia River Basin, Colorado River System, Baltic Sea, boreal forests of eastern Canada, Chesapeake Bay, and the California Bay Delta System. As these ambitious restoration efforts proceed, we are gathering valuable lessons about how to apply adaptive management techniques in the real world.
However, a significant amount of restoration work is being undertaken on a small watershed or sub-basin scale. Managers of these smaller-scale projects embrace the idea of adaptive management but encounter difficulties in translating the available large-scale examples, often comprised of teams of scientists and relatively large budgets, to their own efforts.
Through our project "Small is Beautiful: Scaling Adaptive Management to Fit a Range of Riverine Systems" NHI is attempting to address the disparity between the existing models for adaptive management and the smaller-scale needs of many resource managers and agencies. We are examining potential pathways for scaling down the adaptive management model to better address the particular constraints of projects with limited financial and institutional capacities.
Contact: 
Elizabeth Soderstrom
