A skier watches elk in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park is working to develop a collaborative adaptive management program to evaluate the implementation of its new winter-use management plan. A public meeting to discuss the program will be held on Nov. 22 in Bozeman, Mont.
Park officials say that collaborative adaptive management is a strategy widely used in other complex conservation programs, and will allow the National Park Service to gather more information about park resource conditions through scientific monitoring and to seek additional public input.
Managers will consider this additional information to assess and improve the management of winter use in Yellowstone National Park, according to a statement released by the park’s public affairs office.
Managers may also use this information to adjust Park Service management actions in order to enhance the condition of park resources or the visitor experience.
An initial public meeting about Yellowstone’s Adaptive Management Program will be held in Bozeman, Montana on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013 at the MSU Engineering and Physical Sciences Building (Room 126) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Park Service plans to release details later for how those who cannot attend the meeting may participate remotely.
The meeting will outline a roadmap for collaboratively developing a winter-use adaptive management plan; include presentations about the park’s scientific monitoring on winter use; and offer opportunities for public input on adaptive management. The Park Service requests that all interested parties RSVP to confirm their meeting attendance or remote participation by Friday, November 8, 2013.
Following the first meeting, the Park Service will work with the public and all interested stakeholders on the preparation of a long-term and sustainable adaptive management plan. The plan will describe how the Park Service will monitor and evaluate its management strategy for winter use for years to come.
Park Service staff expects to present a draft adaptive management plan for winter use to the public in summer 2014, and to complete a final adaptive management and monitoring plan by the 2016-2017 winter season.
The Adaptive Management Program is part of the new management paradigm for winter use outlined by the recently released winter use final rule.
For more information, please visit the program web page: http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/wuamp.htm. To RSVP for the meeting, please contact Rebecca Garvoille, Yellowstone’s Adaptive Management Coordinator, at (307) 344-2265 or rebecca_garvoille@contractor.nps.gov.