Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Ecology and Society

Publisher

Resilience Alliance

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Publication Date

6-2016

Publisher location

Nova Scotia

First Page

48

Issue Number

2

Volume Number

21

Abstract/ Summary

Effective natural resource policy depends on knowing what is needed to sustain a resource and building the capacity to identify, develop, and implement flexible policies. This retrospective case study applies resilience concepts to a 16-year citizen science program and vernal pool regulatory development process in Maine, USA. We describe how citizen science improved adaptive capacities for innovative and effective policies to regulate vernal pools. We identified two core program elements that allowed people to act within narrow windows of opportunity for policy transformation, including (1) the simultaneous generation of useful, credible scientific knowledge and construction of networks among diverse institutions, and (2) the formation of diverse leadership that promoted individual and collective abilities to identify problems and propose policy solutions. If citizen science program leaders want to promote social-ecological systems resilience and natural resource policies as outcomes, we recommend they create a system for internal project evaluation, publish scientific studies using citizen science data, pursue resources for program sustainability, and plan for leadership diversity and informal networks to foster adaptive governance.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

McGreavy, B., A. J. K. Calhoun, J. Jansujwicz, and V. Levesque. 2016. Citizen science and natural resource governance: program design for vernal pool policy innovation. Ecology and Society 21(2):48. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08437-210248

Publisher Statement

© 2016 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance.

DOI

10.5751/ES-08437-210248

Version

publisher's version of the published document

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.