CIVIC-PG Track A: Piloting the application of the data-to-decisions rapid response team to support climate adaptation planning within the Florida State Park system

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Community land management agencies – such as the Florida State Parks agency - are faced with numerous climate change-related challenges. For instance, wildfire season is arriving earlier each year and consuming increasing staff time and resources, and management, in general, is challenged by the northward movement of invasive species. Florida State Parks decision makers are interested in finding new ways to address these challenges by using research-based decision support approaches. However inadequate staffing and limited capacity to deploy new management and planning have limited their capabilities. This CIVIC project will enable Florida State Parks to develop the staff knowledge and capacity to use data-driven decision support approaches to solve problems related to climate adaptation on public conservation lands. We plan to pilot a “data-to-decisions rapid response team” approach that pairs local expertise with university research scientists to identify and trial solutions to local conservation land management challenges. These teams will use cutting-edge research on environmental decision support to solve environmental problems while also gathering information on the effectiveness of this approach. It will serve as a potential implementation model for the use of this team-based approach to address similar issues encountered by entities tasked with making decisions related to the management of public lands. Decision-theory-based approaches for structuring problems and identifying solutions show tremendous promise for promoting efficient and effective management pathways to desired environmental outcomes. However, to date, these approaches have been out of reach for community-based land management organizations. Despite clear interest in embracing theory-based decision support processes, the steep learning curve and uncertain benefits have particularly hindered uptake among many organizations. We have been developing approaches to support individual organizations in improving their capacity to test the benefit of theory-based decision support approaches. This support involves researchers and organization members working together to use approaches such as structured decision-making and return-on-investment theory to pursue a problem that needs solving. However, to substantially increase the use of theory-based decision support within local organizations, we need to rapidly scale the approaches used and the capacity of local organizations to engage. The “data to decisions” rapid response team pilot project aims to do that by providing financial, staffing, and technical support to the community land management agency as we co-produce solutions to 3-5 pilot projects, while also measuring the effectiveness of the approach so that it can be refined and scaled to support other conservation organizations later. This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track A. Living in a changing climate: pre-disaster action around adaptation, resilience, and mitigation—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.