PARENT SESSION
Symposium #15: The Ecology-Policy Interface: Interests, Information, and Making Decisions.
Organized by: AC Keller and P Alpert
Tuesday, August 6. 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. Leo Rich Theatre.
From "healthy distance" to "productive intimacy": The Biodiversity Sciences Center approach to scientific involvement in habitat conservation planning.
Wise, John*,1, 1 National Heritage Institute, Berkeley, CA
ABSTRACT- Scientists have been increasingly concerned over the past decade with the way that the "healthy distance" model for the ecology-policy interface has been applied to the preparation of habitat conservation plans (HCPs). Scientists have been consulted late in plan preparation or not at all, and the scientific basis of approved HCPs has been highly variable. In addition to placing species at continuing risk, this inconsistency has been responsible for lengthy and costly plan preparation periods, uncertainty for all parties, and legal challenges from an array of external interveners. To remedy this, every scientific association that has examined HCPs has recommended early and ongoing scientific involvement in HCP development. The Biodiversity Sciences Center (BSC), an initiative of the Natural Heritage Institute, is performing this role by facilitating the delivery of the best available independent science during the formative stages of habitat conservation process. Rather than maintaining a "healthy distance", the BSC is fostering a "productive intimacy" between permit applicants, regulatory authorities, and independent scientists, without propelling scientists into a policymaking or advocacy role. Over the past 3 years, the BSC has synthesized performance reviews of HCPs and solicited the expert opinions of researchers, regulators, conservationists and practicing conservation biologists. This paper will distill the BSC's findings and propose guiding principles for HCP design that foster a "productive intimacy" across the science-policy interface.
KEY WORDS: ESA, Endangered Species, Habitat Conservation Planning, Peer Review