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