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<br />Chapter II Description of Alternatives 12 <br /> <br />explicit about what they expect. so they can design methods and apparatus to make <br />measurements. Second, they collect and analyze information so expectations can be <br />compared with actuality. Finally, they transform comparison into learning-they correct <br />errors. improve their imperfect understanding, and change action and plans. Linking science <br />and human purpose, adaptive management serves as a compass for us to use in searching for <br />a sustainable future. <br /> <br />Adaptive management is an iterative process of action-based planning, monitoring, <br />researching, evaluating, and adjusting with the specific objective of improving <br />implementation and achieving the goals that have been identified. Uncertainty is inherent in <br />this process and the greatest learning may come from unexpected results.. Therefore, adaptive <br />management must also be flexible as well as iterative, allowing and providing for change <br />with decreasing uncertainty and increasing knowledge. Knowledge or data on the effects of <br />an action, purposefully collected and used to improve future actions, is fed back into the <br />process. Then, based on that information, the management and research activities are <br />adjusted and adapted as the activities are implemented so the environmental effects fall <br />within the predefined limits identified in the initial analysis. This adaptive management <br />process in not a single act or event, but is a continuing mode of behavior carried out through <br />a process of adaptation. <br /> <br />Because of the complexity of the ecological interactions in the Grand Canyon, no one fixed <br />plan of operation could be expected to fully meet the goals of the proposed temperature <br />control alternative. Refmements in the temperature release patterns (operations) will need to <br />evolve as our knowledge increases from each successive year of testing. The proposed <br />alternative must embrace the basic concepts of adaptive management to become effective. <br />Carefully designed experiments are necessary to assure that these adaptations help, not hann <br />the resources. <br /> <br />The adaptive management tests would follow an iterative process. Managers would design <br />the initial year's experiment to alter the downstream temperature and monitor the effects. <br />After evaluating the results of the experiment, they may modify the temperature release <br />pattern. Any unexpected finding may require adjustments or adaptation. For example, the <br />first year of testing may show an increase in a particular fish species that competes with <br />humpback chub. The following year's release pattern may be shifted to control that species. <br />Each year will be evaluated, and each year a new experimental design will be developed and <br />reviewed. After a number of years, the uncertainties should be reduced and the desirable <br />operational patterns should begin to emerge. Eventually, a reasonable long-term operating <br />and monitoring scenario should become evident. <br /> <br />Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Process - The Glen Canyon Adaptive Management <br />Program was implemented as a result of the Record of Decision (ROD) on the Operation of <br />Glen Canyon Dam Final Environmental Impact Statement (USDI 1995) and to comply with <br />consultation requirements of the Grand Canyon Protection Act (PL 102-575) of 1992. The <br />Program provides an organization and process to ensure the use of future scientific <br />information in making decisions concerning Glen Canyon Dam operations and protection of <br />the affected resources consistent with the Grand Canyon Protection Act. The Adaptive <br />