The Whole Is Greater
Integrating Three Co-Equal Goals
The 2012 Revision of the NAWMP identified three co-equal fundamental goals, with specific objectives articulated in the 2014 Addendum. These objectives are anchored in the goals to (1) sustain waterfowl populations and population fluctuations at historic levels, (2) conserve habitats at levels sufficient to satisfy life cycle requirements of waterfowl and the desires of those who support waterfowl conservation, and (3) increase the number of supporters through a variety of activities. Additionally, the 2018 Update advocated for integrating across the three objectives. Specifically, practitioners were urged to "[consider] the impact of specific management decisions on all objectives and [learn] about the effects of those actions on the attainment of multiple objectives through monitoring and evaluation."
Science Meets Strategy
Regional Decision-Making and Integration Tools
The 2018 Update also stated that most decisions relevant to NAWMP implementation occur at regional or local scales, and that integration would be most successful at regional (state, provincial, territorial or JV) scales. Toward that end, Krainyk et al. (2019) undertook an innovative research project to develop a decision support tool to spatially integrate the biological and social objectives of the NAWMP. The tool allows customization, so it can be used by national, regional and province/state-level wildlife professionals to aid their decisions in targeting waterfowl habitat conservation. Such tools hold great promise, and they support efforts by the NAWMP to advance integration. As part of the 2024 Update review process, a survey of JVs was completed. It revealed advancements in the use of social sciences to inform decision-making, but also showed that JVs are viewing human dimensions science primarily as a tool to help achieve biological objectives, rather than a means to support people objectives as an end result (2024 Update Technical Report). Examples of JV conservation approaches that explicitly seek benefits to both waterfowl and other ecosystem services were also reviewed. These approaches have paid dividends for JVs by engaging broader audiences and by demonstrating broader societal benefits from waterfowl habitat conservation (2024 Update Technical Report).
Interviews with individual JV staff revealed considerable progress on integrating waterfowl population and habitat objectives (Appendix H). Of the 23 JV staff interviewed, 15 indicated they had quantified habitat objectives integrated with NAWMP population objectives. On the other hand, only 2 of 23 indicated that they had incorporated priorities for people into their geographic priorities for waterfowl habitat, and none of them had quantified waterfowl population objectives integrated with NAWMP people objectives (Appendix H; 2024 Update Technical Report).
Challenges of integration
Understanding the People Objective
Relatively slow progress on formal integration of people objectives with waterfowl population and habitat objectives should not be interpreted as a lack of interest in human dimensions by NAWMP partners. Rather, it illustrates uncertainties surrounding the process. This is not surprising given that this important aspect of the NAWMP began with the 2012 Revision. NAWMP practitioners had much to digest and learn during the intervening period. In fact, it is encouraging that many JVs indicated their partnerships have invested substantially in better understanding socio-economic factors influencing habitat conservation. These investments took many forms, including better quantification and communication of the range of benefits provided by the restoration and conservation of waterfowl habitat, design and development of programs that benefit waterfowl and agricultural producers simultaneously, efforts to provide actionable science to inform policy debates, and extensive gathering of data on waterfowl hunter and other recreationist motivation, satisfaction and demographics (Patton 2018; Cole 2022).
The Road From Here
Moving Toward Stronger Integration
If the desire is to retain and integrate three coequal fundamental goals, JVs may require additional support and guidance to help them focus conservation efforts more effectively. For example, if sustaining waterfowl populations is fundamental to supporting waterfowl hunters for the sake of waterfowl hunting itself, then JVs and/or Flyways may need additional guidance regarding integration of habitat and harvest management efforts, hunter R3 efforts and similar efforts that have not traditionally been JV foci. Quantitatively integrating across three coequal goals remains both conceptually and practically difficult. Nevertheless, since the 2012 Revision and the 2018 Update, we've seen real progress in breaking the problem into more formal pairwise integration of two goals at a time. The next four sections show examples of that progress.
