Exploring Measures of Social and Ecological Resilience Around Protected Areas in the Skagit Watershed

Abstract

Bianca Perla will discuss a major conservation challenge we face: how do we manage linked social and ecological landscapes to incorporate change while maintaining sustainability? She will present research that investigates the role of social and ecological resilience in increasing the efficacy of protected areas. The results show that protection is associated with higher species richness and lower non-native richness. The conclusion: protection is associated with higher ecological resilience for a wider array of ecosystem functions. Managment implications are outlined. Next, she will consider how protected areas influence social resilience. The conclusions: upper watershed and lower watershed socio-ecological systems differ in social and ecological resilience factors. These differences create different responses to protection in the form of land tenure turnover vs. retention and perceptions of park related benefits/costs. Further management implications are outlined. Finally, Perla will discuss socio-ecological resilience and adaptive management, and will review the relevance of resilience to watershed management.