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Full-Text Articles in Law
Judging Adaptive Management Practices Of U.S. Agencies, Robert L. Fischman, J. B. Ruhl
Judging Adaptive Management Practices Of U.S. Agencies, Robert L. Fischman, J. B. Ruhl
Articles by Maurer Faculty
All U.S. federal agencies administering environmental laws purport to practice adaptive management (AM), but little is known about how they actually implement this conservation tool. A gap between the theory and practice of AM is revealed in judicial decisions reviewing agency adaptive management plans. We analyzed all U.S. federal court opinions published through 1 January 2015 to identify the agency AM practices courts found most deficient. The shortcomings included lack of clear objectives and processes, monitoring thresholds, and defined actions triggered by thresholds. This trio of agency shortcuts around critical, iterative steps characterizes what we call AM-lite. Passive AM differs …