NSSI Workshop
Questions and
Process
Kirk LaGory
Argonne National Laboratory
January 2004
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 Questions
From 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
Prioritization of Receptors
• 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
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 resourcemanagement 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
North Slope Presentation