Developing a toolkit for coproducing actionable science to support public land management

Background

Agencies that manage federal public lands and resources are committed to making science-informed decisions.¹ However, time and resources committed to supporting external science have not always resulted in products with clear applications for public land management. Adopting a coproduction approach to conducting science, in which scientists, natural resource managers, and related stakeholders work together on projects as partners, is one mechanism that can help ensure that science requested by resource managers will better meet their needs^2,3 (see Coproduction Tool #1). Previous research and staff experiences have shown that coproduced knowledge and tools are more likely to be seen as credible, relevant, and timely.^4,5 

Project goal and objectives

The goal of this project is for BLM and USGS to work together with other partners to develop an informational toolkit to support researchers and land managers in coproducing science projects to support public land management.

Our objectives are to:

1. Describe key aspects of coproduction for federal agencies, including roles, responsibilities, challenges, and benefits. With this understanding, science providers and resource managers will be better able to intentionally engage in a level of coproduction that best suits their projects.
2. Develop and share information sheets, videos (available here), templates, examples, and checklists that together comprise an informational toolkit to coproduce actionable science for public land management. This toolkit can help inform and support meaningful and ongoing coproduction between science providers and land management agencies.

Anticipated benefits

The coproduction toolkit can help agencies receive greater benefits from the science and research efforts that they fund, including projects that are better designed to answer key management questions, and products that are tailored for easy integration into agency analyses and work processes.

Science-management partnership

USGS and BLM are coproducing this effort together with partners from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, and North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center.

References

1. Kitchell, K., Cohn, S., Falise, R., Hadley, H., Herder, M., Libby, K., Muller, K., Murphy, T., Preston, M., Rugwell, M.J., and Schlanger, S., 2015, Advancing Science in the BLM: An Implementation Strategy. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC, https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/Advancing%20Science%20in%20the%20BLM_Implementation%20Strategy.pdf.

2. Meadow, A.M., Ferguson, D.B., Guido, Z., Horangic, A., Owen, G., and Wall, T., 2015, Moving toward the Deliberate Coproduction of Climate Science Knowledge: Weather, Climate, and Society, v. 7, pp. 179–191, https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-14-00050.1.

3. Beier, P., Hansen, L.J., Helbrecht, L. and Behar, D., 2017, A How-to Guide for Coproduction of Actionable Science: Conservation Letters, v. 10, pp. 288-296, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12300.

4. Cash, D.W., Clark, W.C., Alcock, F., Dickson, N.M., Eckley, N., Guston, D.H., Jager, J., and Mitchell, R.B., 2003, Knowledge systems for sustainable development: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 100, n. 14, pp. 8086-8091, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1231332100. 

5. Dilling, L. and Lemos, M.C., 2011, Creating usable science: opportunities and constraints for climate knowledge use and their implications for science policy: Global Environmental Change, v. 21, n. 2, pp. 680-689, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.11.006.