Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, 2138 TAMU, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA.
USDA-ARS, Jornada Experimental Range and Jornada Basin LTER, New Mexico State University, MSC 3JER, P.O. Box 3003, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003-0003, USA.
Ecol Appl. 2017 Jan;27(1):94-104. doi: 10.1002/eap.1414. Epub 2016 Nov 21.
The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was created in response to a request from the Office of Management and Budget that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) document the societal benefits anticipated to accrue from a major increase in conservation funding authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill. A comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy of rangeland conservation practices cost-shared with private landowners was unable to evaluate conservation benefits because outcomes were seldom documented. Four interrelated suppositions are presented to examine the causes underlying minimal documentation of conservations outcomes. These suppositions are (1) the benefits of conservation practices are considered a certainty so that documentation in not required, (2) there is minimal knowledge exchange between the USDA-NRCS and research organizations, (3) and a paucity of conservation-relevant science, as well as (4) inadequate technical support for land owners following implementation of conservation practices. We then follow with recommendations to overcome potential barriers to documentation of conservation outcomes identified for each supposition. Collectively, this assessment indicates that the existing conservation practice standards are insufficient to effectively administer large conservation investments on rangelands and that modification of these standards alone will not achieve the goals explicitly stated by CEAP. We recommend that USDA-NRCS modify its conservation programs around a more comprehensive and integrative platform that is capable of implementing evidence-based conservation. Collaborative monitoring organized around landowner-agency-scientist partnerships would represent the focal point of a Conservation Program Assessment Network (CPAN). The primary network objective would be to establish missing information feedback loops between conservation practices and their agricultural and environmental outcomes to promote learning, adaptive management, and innovation. Network information would be archived and made available to guide other, related conservation programs in relevant ecoregions. Restructuring conservation programs as we recommend would (1) provide site specific information, learning, and accountability that has been requested by CEAP and (2) further advance balanced delivery of agricultural production and environmental quality goals.
保护效果评估项目 (CEAP) 的创建是为了响应管理和预算办公室的要求，即美国农业部自然资源保护局 (NRCS) 记录 2002 年农业法案授权大幅增加保护资金预计将带来的社会效益。由于很少有记录结果，因此对与私人土地所有者共同分担的牧场保护做法的功效进行全面评估无法评估保护效益。提出了四个相互关联的假设来研究导致保护成果记录极少的根本原因。这些假设是：（1）保护实践的效益被认为是确定无疑的，因此不需要记录；（2）NRCS 与研究组织之间的知识交流很少；（3）以及缺乏与保护相关的科学；以及（4）在实施保护措施后，对土地所有者的技术支持不足。然后，我们针对每个假设提出了克服保护成果记录潜在障碍的建议。总的来说，这项评估表明，现有的保护实践标准不足以有效地管理牧场上的大规模保护投资，而且仅修改这些标准并不能实现 CEAP 明确规定的目标。我们建议 NRCS 修改其保护计划，围绕一个更全面和综合的平台，该平台能够实施基于证据的保护。围绕地主-机构-科学家伙伴关系组织的协作监测将代表保护计划评估网络 (CPAN) 的重点。该网络的主要目标是在保护实践与其农业和环境成果之间建立缺失信息反馈循环，以促进学习、适应性管理和创新。网络信息将被存档并提供给相关生态区的其他相关保护计划，以指导他们。按照我们的建议重组保护计划将：（1）提供 CEAP 要求的特定地点信息、学习和问责制；（2）进一步推进农业生产和环境质量目标的平衡实现。
