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Goals
Who should attend: Those who affect and/or are affected by the 'health' of the Patuxent and Gwynn's Falls Watersheds, or by efforts to improve the health; those with an interest in developing methods to assess the ecological health of ecosystems and watersheds; those with an interest in the restoration of these watersheds; and those with an interest in integrated, spatially explicit watershed models.
Background: As part of an EPA/NSF funded project, a research group at the University of Maryland Institute for Ecological Economics, headed by Dr. Robert Costanza, has developed an integrated, spatially explicit ecological model of the Patuxent Watershed, MD. They are now expanding and applying this model to the Gwynn's Falls watershed in urban Baltimore as part of the NSF funded Baltimore Urban LTER project. These models and their associated data bases provide a unique opportunity to test various policy scenarios and ecosystem restoration options at the whole watershed scale , for both a largely rural/suburban watershed (the Patuxent) and a largely urban/commercial watershed (Gwynn's Falls).
However, policy scenarios are only useful to the extent that we know what we want to achieve: in the words of Yogi Berra, 'if we don't know where we're going, we might end up somewhere else.' In the context of these watersheds, we must address two closely connected critical issues. First, while much time, money and effort are currently being devoted to restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, there is no consensus on when 'restoration' is complete. The common implicit goal of returning ecosystems to the state before human disturbance is both unrealistic and unworkable (Costanza et. al., 1992). The first task of this workshop is to define a goal for ongoing restoration efforts for the two watersheds in question, including the possibility that 'restoration' has already been achieved. Second, while there is a wide consensus that one goal we seek through restoration is to create a healthy ecosystem, there is little consensus on what defines ecosystem health. A working definition of ecosystem health could provide a guiding framework for evaluating different policy scenarios. Based on a survey of health concepts in many fields, Costanza (1992) found that vigor, organization and resilience (as briefly defined above) are three general categories of performance that are usually associated with "well-functioning " in any living system at any scale. The second major task in this workshop is to identify the indicators or combinations of indicators that are most useful (both from a socio-economic and ecological point of view) in defining "well-functioning" in these complex, integrated watershed systems.
For both of these tasks, we want to combine scientific input with stakeholder preferences to develop politically, socially and academically credible results.
Workshop structure: The workshop on February 14, 2000, will be broken into three parts. The morning session will begin at 9:15 with a re-introduction of the model, description of its capabilities and a report on its current status, followed by a brief discussion of the concepts of ecosystem restoration and ecosystem health. Following a short break at 10:45, we will divide into working groups seeking to define ecosystem health and restoration preferences in the context of each watershed. Rather than attempt to resolve existing conflicts, these working groups will strive to build a consensus based on common ground. Everyone, both scientists and stakeholders, will have equal say in the discussions. Disagreements will be noted and set aside in the effort to establish shared goals, beliefs and preferences. The working groups will break for lunch, then resume. At approximately 2:30 PM, we will reunite in the larger group. Spokespersons for each of the working groups will present their results in the form of shared opinions and unresolved disagreements. Combining the results of the smaller working groups should provide a widely credible minimum goal for restoration, and identify a useful set of indicators of ecosystem health.
We hope you can join in this opportunity for collaborative research.
If you plan on attending, please return the enclosed registration form by January 14, or
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Lunch will be provided at the workshop.
For additional information about the model, see our web site at http://kabir.cbl.umces.edu/PLM
Further questions about the model or workshop should be directed to:
Joshua Farley
Executive Director
Institute for Ecological Economics
P.O. Box 38
Solomons, MD 20688
farley@cbl.umces.edu
(410) 326-7336
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