NSSI Workshop Questions and Process

Kirk LaGoryArgonne National Laboratory

January 2004

North Slope Presentation

Workshop Objectives

• Gather stakeholder input

• Information will be used to identify inventory, monitoring, and research needed to inform resource-management decisions

• Facilitated breakout sessions to gather input

North Slope Presentation

Five QuestionsFrom a resource-management perspective:

• What are the important natural system components (receptors) on the North Slope?

• For each receptor, what are the important impacting factors (drivers)?

• What inventory, monitoring, and research projects and programs are being conducted or are planned on the North Slope?

• What additional inventory, monitoring, and research projects and programs are needed on the North Slope?

• What are the desirable attributes of a North Slope information and analysis system?

North Slope Presentation

Need to View North Slope as a System of Interdependent Parts

• Which parts of the system are most affected by resource-management decisions?

• Which human activities have the most important effects?

• What other factors could influence interpretation of results?

• These become the focus of NSSI’s integrated inventory, monitoring, and research program

North Slope Presentation

Systems Approach Helps Identify Important Issues and Processes

North Slope Presentation

Receptors and Drivers

• Receptors are the entities or factors affected by resource activities (examples)– Vegetation distribution– Water runoff patterns– Subsistence harvest patterns

• Drivers are the activities or factors that affect receptors– Development– Climate change– Human activity

North Slope Presentation

System Processes: How Drivers Affect Receptors

North Slope Presentation

Question 1: What Are the Important Natural System Components (Receptors) on the North Slope?• Three broad categories for

consideration– Biological (examples)

• Species• Habitats• Processes

– Physical (examples)• Geological• Hydrological• Meteorological

– Human dimension (examples)• Human health• Subsistence• Local economy

• List and prioritize within categories

North Slope Presentation

• Priority can be based on a variety of factors– Importance to system– Sensitivity to resource-management impacts– Rarity– Societal values

• Prioritization can be based on observation, traditional knowledge, research results, or professional judgment

Prioritization of Receptors

North Slope Presentation

Question 2: For each Receptor on the North Slope, What Are the Important Impacting Factors (Drivers)?

• Two categories for consideration– Anthropogenic drivers (examples)

• Oil and gas development• Land use• Air pollution

– Natural drivers (examples)• Weather variability and cycles• Natural population cycles• Natural predator-prey

relationships

• List and prioritize

North Slope Presentation

Prioritization of Drivers

• Dominant anthropogenic effects

– North slope activities under purview of resource- management agencies

– Other anthropogenic factors that affect important receptors

• Dominant natural factors that affect important receptors

• What we must know to interpret changes in receptors

North Slope Presentation

Question 3: What Inventory, Monitoring, and Research Projects and Programs Are Ongoing or Are Planned on the North Slope?

• Inventory– Identification of what currently exists (e.g.,

mapping, population studies)

• Monitoring – Studies to determine change through time and

space (e.g., population changes)

• Research– Studies of cause and effect (e.g., effects of

disturbance on behavior)

• What are the temporal and spatial scales?– One-time, annual, or decadal studies– Local, regional, or slope-wide studies

North Slope Presentation

Question 4: What Additional Inventory, Monitoring and Research Projects and Programs Are Needed on the North Slope?

• Considering the answer to the previous question, what inventory, monitoring, and research projects do you think are needed to inform resource-management decisions?

• Focus on important drivers and receptors

• Can be based on traditional knowledge, observation, professional judgment, research results

• What are the appropriate temporal and spatial scales of each?

• Prioritize

North Slope Presentation

Question 5: What Are the Desirable Attributes of a North Slope Information and Analysis System?

• Information sharing and coordination is considered critical to success

• An important objective of the NSSI is to be a catalyst for development of a common information and analysis system

• What are the attributes of such a system?

North Slope Presentation

Question 5: What Are the Desirable Attributes of a North Slope Information and Analysis System? (Cont.)

• What is the general architecture?

• What standards should be met?

• What kind of quality assurance is needed?

• What should it contain?

• What are the appropriate spatial and temporal scales?

• Who should have access to it?

• How do we handle public and proprietary data?

• Who should “own” it?

• Who should “run” it?

North Slope Presentation

Breakout Session Process

• Facilitated brainstorming for identification and prioritization

• Three breakout groups

• Two questions covered today, three tomorrow

• Recorder, technical advisor in each group

• Breakout report at end of each session