FINAL REPORT - International Joint Commission

The overall approach of this Study, which we term “Shared Vision Planning,” encompasses all of the goals
typically associated with adaptive management (Walters, 1986) and provides a level of transparency and
public feedback recommended by the U.S. National Research Council (2004):
1. bounding of management problems in terms of explicit and hidden objectives, practical constraints
on action, and the breadth of factors considered in policy analysis;
2. representation of existing understanding of managed systems in terms of more explicit models of
dynamic behavior, that spell out assumptions and predictions clearly enough so that errors can be
detected and used as a basis for further learning;
3. representation of uncertainty and its propagation through time in relation to management actions;
4. design of balanced policies that provide for continuing resource production while simultaneously
probing for better understanding.
FINAL REPORT
In its report on “Adaptive Management for Water Resources Project Planning,” the U.S. National Research
Council (NRC, 2004) notes that “adaptive management entails a spectrum of approaches. These range
from ‘passive’ programs, which focus on monitoring and evaluating outcomes from a particular policy
choice, to more formal and rigorous ‘active’ adaptive management, which designs management actions to
test competing models of system behavior so that models can be improved for future decision making.”
A form of passive adaptive management is reflected in the operational decisions of the International
St. Lawrence River Board of Control, which routinely deals with a fairly significant amount of uncertain
information. The NRC then goes on to recommend three necessary components of any adaptive
management plan:
• post-project (plan, program) evaluations should be a standard for adaptive management;
• stakeholder collaboration should be an integral component of adaptive management;
• independent experts should be periodically enlisted to provide advice on adaptive management initiatives.
Within each optional plan, and its complementary operating plan, there are several key areas which are
candidates for an ‘active’ adaptive management plan. The adopted operating plan and criteria would be
periodically (no less than 10-year intervals) reviewed by the IJC and the Control Board, with the involvement
of stakeholders and independent experts. In order to accommodate the new adaptive management
functions associated with the implementation of a plan by the International Joint Commission, the Control
Board would need to reorganize its technical support, currently provided by the Corps of Engineers and
Environment Canada. This may include broadening U.S. and Canadian federal agency representation to
include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey and perhaps the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and their counterparts in Canada, in order to provide the added
technical and financial support and ensure responsibility is taken for carrying out the key adaptive
management plan actions. The basic components of a practically achievable adaptive management plan
that addresses a review of the performance of an operating plan, can be described as follows:
• Forecasting technology, methods and models need to be constantly assessed, tested and periodically
updated and incorporated into the water control operations of the Control Board. Climate and
hydrologic forecasting is a key and critical element in effective water management and regulation,
particularly in the tightly controlled circumstances within the Lake Ontario- St. Lawrence River system.
• Mitigation measures that are deemed necessary to plan implementation have been identified to
potentially target erosion and flood damages, wetlands habitat losses, and several species, as well as
one species at risk (Plan A + ), depending on the plan selected for implementation.
• Reform and coordination of regulatory permit procedures is an essential component of adaptive
management that is required to update permit requirements to conform to the new flow and lake level
design limits of each plan.
Options for Managing Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Water Levels and Flows
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