Benefits of Adaptive Management in Ecosystem Restoration

Eight years after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster began, our state and federal leaders must ensure that the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is recovering. Adaptive management is an important tool to achieve this goal, by gauging the progress of projects, learning what’s working and what isn’t, and fixing those that are underperforming. Our latest report illustrates the benefits of adaptive management by highlighting three case studies for large-scale restoration projects around the United States: the Platte River Recovery, Yolo Bypass Floodplain Restoration and Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Restoration programs. Together, these case studies offer valuable insights for today’s Gulf restoration leaders, from the challenges other leaders faced, strategies they chose to navigate those challenges, and the solutions they ultimately reached.