Mercury Strategy for the Bay-Delta Ecosystem - CALFED Bay-Delta ...

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Linkages and Integration among Core Components
The mercury strategy, as outlined here, is an integrated program with strongly interconnected
components (Figure 4). The interactions include linkages between scientific activities (research
and monitoring) and linkages between scientific investigations and management actions (risk
communication, source remediation, ecosystem restoration, and landscape management). The
evaluation of outcomes is also an important feature of the strategy. Scientific investigations,
management actions, and evaluations within a given core component should be strongly linked,
and these activities should be continuous, rather than sequential. These linkages, which form the
basis for adaptive management of mercury in the ecosystem, are utterly crucial for meeting the
goals and objectives outlined for the strategy and for providing timely scientific input for
adaptive management. The authors of this document contend that the scientific merit, rigor,
cost-effectiveness, and overall worth of a mercury program in the Bay-Delta ecosystem will
increase in proportion to the strength of such linkages.
The linkages among core components of the mercury strategy are illustrated in Figure 4, where
shaded arrows represent the flows of information and interactions that are needed to support
decision processes for refinement of scientific investigations and for adaptive management of
mercury in the ecosystem. Science is an integral and ongoing tool in adaptive restoration and
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