Browsing by Author "Chaffin, Brian C."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Integrating Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Resilience in Fire-Prone Landscapes
(2019-05) Higuera, Philip E.; Metcalf, Alexander L.; Miller, Carol; Buma, Brian; McWethy, David B.; Metcalf, Elizabeth C.; Ratajczak, Zak; Nelson, Cara R.; Chaffin, Brian C.; Stedman, Richard C.; McCaffrey, Sarah; Schoennagel, Tania; Harvey, Brian J.; Hood, Sharon M.; Schultz, Courtney A.; Black, Anne E.; Campbell, David; Haggerty, Julia Hobson; Keane, Robert E.; Krawchuk, Meg A.; Kulig, Judith C.; Rafferty, Rebekah; Virapongse, Arika
Resilience has become a common goal for science-based natural resource management, particularly in the context of changing climate and disturbance regimes. Integrating varying perspectives and definitions of resilience is a complex and often unrecognized challenge to applying resilience concepts to social–ecological systems (SESs) management. Using wildfire as an example, we develop a framework to expose and separate two important dimensions of resilience: the inherent properties that maintain structure, function, or states of an SES and the human perceptions of desirable or valued components of an SES. In doing so, the framework distinguishes between value-free and human-derived, value-explicit dimensions of resilience. Four archetypal scenarios highlight that ecological resilience and human values do not always align and that recognizing and anticipating potential misalignment is critical for developing effective management goals. Our framework clarifies existing resilience theory, connects literature across disciplines, and facilitates use of the resilience concept in research and land-management applications.
A satellite-driven hydro-economic model to support agricultural water resources management
(2020-12) Maneta, Marco P.; Coburn, K.; Kimball, John S.; He, Mingzhu; Silverman, N. L.; Chaffin, Brian C.; Ewing, Stephanie A.; Ji, X.; Maxwell, Bruce D.
The management of water resources among competing uses presents a complex technical and policy challenge. Integrated hydro-economic models capable of simulating the hydrologic system in irrigated and non-irrigated regions including the response of farmers to hydrologic constraints and economic and policy incentives, provide a framework to understand biophysical and socioeconomic implications of changing water availability. We present a transformative hydro-economic model of agricultural production driven by multi-sensor satellite observations, outputs from regional climate models, and socioeconomic data. Our approach overcomes the limitations of current decision support systems for agricultural water management and provides policymakers and natural resource managers with satellite data-driven, state-wide, operational models capable of anticipating how farmers allocate water, land, and other resources when confronted with new climate patterns, policy rules, or market signals. The model can also quantify how farming decisions affect agricultural water supplies. We demonstrate the model through an application in the state of Montana.