The 89,000-acre Valles Caldera, which became federal land in 2000, is one of the few places where adaptive management is taking place. The management of the preserve has been controversial.
"There's a need for a new paradigm of science in land management," said Thomas W. Swetnam, a forest ecologist at The University of Arizona in Tucson and director of UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. "The Valles Caldera has set up this paradigm as an experiment and it's underway."
Swetnam will discuss the history and ecology of the Valles Caldera in northern New Mexico and how science is being incorporated into its management on Friday, Feb. 17, at 9 a.m. local time at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting being held at the America's Center at 701 Convention Plaza, St. Louis.
Swetnam's talk, "The Valles Caldera Landscape: Establishing Science-Based Adaptive Management at VCNP and the Challenges in Building Science-Management," will be presented at the symposium, "Environmental Management: The Valles Caldera Experience," held in on Level Two, Rm. 241 of the America's Center.
"I will talk about what land management can do if it has good support from within and how adaptive management can be accomplished when there's a commitment to invest in science to work hand-in-hand with land management over the long term," he said.
The Valles Caldera Trust manages the preserve and has, from its inception, emphasized science, monitoring and adaptive management as part of its decision-making process. One of the original board members of the trust, Swetnam was instrumental in ensuring that science would be an integral part of preserve management, rather than an afterthought or subsidiary activity.
Ins
'"/>
Contact: Mari N. Jensen
mnjensen@email.arizona.edu
520-626-9635
University of Arizona
17-Feb-2006