The purpose of the reflection period and integration of project outcomes is to continually disseminate findings from this research to residents, businesses, government agencies, scientists, and other relevant decision-makers who are shaping the future of protected areas, those in the Denali region. In turn, the research team is building knowledge of how residents are discussing and reacting to pressures related to rapid social, economic, and landscape change, and this knowledge is being reported back to stakeholders. This cyclical process of co-creation is occurring throughout the project. The medium for reflection is taking a variety of forms, particularly through webinars, in-depth discussions with the local executive committee, and reports provided to decision-makers. The reflection period will culminate in a film about communities in the Denali region, as well as wrap-up workshops at the end of the project. These workshops are being framed as spaces for civic discovery whereby residents become aware of the diverse values for places that they do (and do not) share with others in the region. They are encouraged to recognize potential opportunities for growth in ways that take advantage of shared thought, directed actions and channeled support for preserving the desired character of places.
All previous phases of this project are instrumental in supporting this building block. The mixed-methods databases from this project provide the empirical basis for engaging and reflecting on lessons learned from the research process. Existing relationships across an array of stakeholders is also important for encouraging participation and maximizing impacts that emerge from the study.
Major lessons learned throughout the project include: (1) Trust building is an ever-present set of actions that needs continual attention. (2) There is a shift towards replacing the dichotomy of use versus preservation, by the complexity of environmental sustainability, industrial tourism, and landscape change. (3) Charting a course for inclusive conservation will require understanding processes that reduce tensions across stakeholder groups. (4) Moving away from generalized conflict, to clarify specific points of conflict and appreciate points of agreement.
People learn from each other to support the landscape in a variety of ways
Van Riper Lab
Visual of social learning discussion
Van Riper Lab
The purpose of community deliberation is to facilitate the process of social learning for residents about protected area management through stakeholder-driven discussions. Social learning is the change in understanding that occurs amongst individuals and groups through social interactions. A number of participatory approaches can be taken to facilitate social learning; we used community deliberation through an online discussion forum. The online discussion forum encompassed a four-week activity that residents participated in asynchronously. Residents were given a new topic prompt to address weekly and were encouraged to focus on responding to comments left by fellow residents. Weekly summaries were generated and feedback was also elicited to ensure the summaries accurately reflected residents’ deliberations. Over 400 responses and comments were posted by 37 residents on the discussion board throughout the four-week period. The last prompt asked residents what they had learned from participating in the forum, followed by a survey questionnaire administered online to measure other shifts in values, perceptions, or behaviors as a result of participation.
Previous work based on relationship building in the area was important for participation, especially the listening sessions and establishing local partnerships. Residents were compensated for their time, positioned as experts who were asked to demonstrate their local knowledge, and organized into three smaller discussion groups to encourage personalized interactions. Additionally, the research team asked for feedback on the interpretation of findings to increase ownership of the project.
Local residents enjoyed engaging in the online discussion and most appreciated collectively learning more about the landscape and protected area management. The positive attitude of the research team supported the learning process by building an appreciative dialogue of places in the Denali region. Maintaining flexibility in the research approach was also important to support participation for a broader array of residents within a rural landscape. For example, some people chose to engage anonymously to mitigate risk, while others shared their name and appreciated that they knew some of the people in their groups. Focus groups were held at the beginning of the forum to provide personalized guidance on the purpose of the forum to get things started, followed by the asynchronous discussion. Some of the participants expressed interest in having repeated meetings in addition to the online discussion component. Overall, we suggest that a mixture of online, in-person, and hybrid engagement strategies work best to capture the range of preferences for participation.
Wildlife is an important environmental feature threatened by landscape change
Van Riper Lab
Boreal forests in Interior Alaska are expected to undergo more frequent and intense wildfires as a result of climate change
National Park Service
Mushing in Interior Alaska is one form of off-season tourism that may expand in the future
Alaska Dogsled Tours
The purpose of visioning for the future of the Denali region is to evaluate stakeholder preferences and trade-offs they are willing to make when thinking about the future of the region. Identifying distinct visions for the future is important in places like Interior Alaska where impacts from climate change are magnified and anticipated to rapidly transform the social-ecological landscape. This information can inform decision-makers about priorities for the future across a gamut of stakeholders and serve as a foundation for participatory planning. This study evaluated visions as part of a mixed mode household survey administered to residents across the Denali region.
To identify preferences and trade-offs for future conditions, a discrete choice experiment that evaluated the strengths of preferences and trade-offs for future conditions of the Denali region was included. Survey data were used to understand preferences for attributes including wildlife populations, off-season tourism, and fire management, as well as the cost of maintaining current conditions of these attributes. Results showed that all of these factors influenced preferences for the future, and that the range of environmental attitudes held by stakeholder groups accounted for variation in the strength of preferences reported by survey respondents.
Previous work that qualitatively evaluated residents’ perceptions of landscape change and knowledge were instrumental in the success of this building block. In particular, an in-depth understanding of relevant landscape features was built prior to developing the parameters in our discrete choice experiment. The collection of pilot testing data was also important to refine the language used in our survey and range of changes that were considered realistic future conditions in the region.
Evaluating residents’ preferences for future landscape conditions and trade-offs they are willing to make when thinking about the future yielded important insights about residents’ priorities. This is crucial information for decision-makers to more effectively meet the needs of their constituencies. The development of this building block also taught lessons about the value of creative, mixed-mode strategies for data collection that would increase the likelihood of diverse perspectives being reflected in the final sample. Overall, working with local stakeholders to understand visions for the future was useful for generating empirical evidence that showed the relative importance of features that describe the Denali landscape. Results are also useful for anticipating resident support or resistance to changes in visions for the future in ways that can help decision-makers understand distinct stakeholders' viewpoints.
To deepen understandings of distinct perspectives in the Denali region, this project focused on engaging various stakeholders in discussions about the characteristics of the region and how it is managed. We used semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Interviews with residents included questions about participants’ sense of place, perceptions of landscape change, local organizations, knowledge of the landscape, and governance. Participants were identified during the first phase of this study and a snowball sampling approach was adopted whereby participants were asked to nominate others.
This phase also identified residents’ perceptions of the region as a social-ecological system to understand how communities are anticipating change and lay groundwork for collaborative management that prioritizes social-ecological resilience. This project adopted fuzzy cognitive mapping, which is a participatory tool used to graphically represent residents’ mental image of where they live and how things are connected to one another. This approach allowed residents to map their perceptions of the key features that characterized the region and drivers of change. The individual exercise was administered during a series of focus groups and interviews, resulting in 51 maps that were aggregated to represent a regional perspective.
The main enabling factor was previous work based on building relationships, trust, and local partnerships. Prior to data collection, residents were asked to participate in informal meetings as a basis for introductions and discussion about the project. Residents who engaged in informal conversations were asked to participate in formal data collection. Initial conversations eased residents into the project and fostered trust with researchers. Residents had not previously participated in mapping exercises and appreciated heavy-handed facilitation.
Engaging residents in semi-structured interviews and fuzzy cognitive mapping exercises resulted in an in-depth understanding of the diverse stakeholders’ histories, knowledge, perceptions, and connections to place that could be modeled to anticipate desired visions for the future. This phase of the research process was instrumental for continuing to build relationships with local stakeholders–sharing and opening discussion around the community maps with the local executive committee and the Denali communities–and inform the design of subsequent quantitative phases of data collection. Further, fuzzy cognitive mapping exercises generated an understanding of the Denali region as a social-ecological system as defined by residents. To better interpret findings from fuzzy cognitive maps, collecting and analyzing qualitative data from the focus groups or interviews is recommended. These results can elucidate synergies and gaps in how different stakeholder groups understand the region which is useful for developing communication strategies and participatory approaches for engaging residents in future planning for the region.
Building local partnerships by spending time in the region
Van Riper Lab
People who live in the Denali region are connected by their shared appreciation for the landscape, resulting in tight-knit communities. For the project to succeed, it was important that the research team establish a mutual understanding and trust based on local partnerships. These relationships have helped to ground the project in a relevant and regional context, provide insight into what matters most to local residents, and guide various phases of the project:
A local Executive Committee consisting of ten stakeholders who represent a diversity of perspectives from the region was formed to build local partnerships.
The project hired a local resident to be a research technician and community advocate for the project to assist with data collection, entry, project design, information dissemination, and communicating research findings.
A series of informal interviews and listening sessions were conducted to start the process of creating a shared understanding of change within the Denali region.
Demonstrated time and commitment from project representatives were critical for establishing partnership building as an active process. Additionally, team leaders already had conducted previous research in the area and formed several relationships that demonstrated their ties to the area, as well as long-term investments in facilitating discussions about landscape change.
The importance of ongoing time, attention, and support that goes into building and maintaining partnerships cannot be overstated. The relationships that were initially built at the onset of the project require continual nurturing and cannot be viewed as a "checkmark" to move on from. Building partnerships also means being sensitive and responsive to locals’ ‘seasons’ in the year, for example, not asking to meet too often when it is a busy hunting or harvesting time of the year, even if this does not correspond to the busy times in the academic or management year. Additionally, efforts to build trust with different communities should likewise be approached with varying strategies. For example, something as simple as buying a cup of coffee at a locally owned business demonstrates reciprocity and investment into the well-being of the community.
2. Training and accreditation for tourism service providers
Capacitaciones para guías y capitanes
PNCP-CONANP
Since the consolidation of the Public Use Program (PUP), which requires that the TSP have accredited guides and captains; CONANP with support from Niparajá have given these accreditation courses. During 2016, 95 guides and 35 captains were trained; in 2017, 64 guides and 36 captains were trained; in 2018 a total of 60 guides and 16 captains were trained; and in 2019, 97 guides and 39 captains were trained. As of 2019, and with the aim of providing tourism service providers with more and better knowledge of the ecosystem, three different courses were developed: a basic course for captains who are presenting themselves for the first time; a basic course for new guides; and an advance course for guides and captains who have been working for more than a year at the NPA. The advance course considers the presentation of talks given by experts on topics not considered as shark biology, whale watching or the population dynamics of fish. The training courses are valid for one year for guides. After one year, an evaluation is applied; if it is successful the new guides can participate in the advanced course, otherwise they will have to participate in the basic. The courses for captains are not valid, only the basic course is mandatory.
Guides and captains who pass their course enter a list of accredited guides and captains and are given a badge that accredits them to work in the Park. This small badge is extremely important because it serves as a support in the control and management actions by the authorities of the National Park.
The modification and inclusion of new topics of interest to tourism operators in the training courses, favored the more active participation of experienced guides and captains since the content was very repetitive for them.
Having a list of guides and captains accredited, informed and trained by the Park Directorate helps to promote the best practices of diving and recreational activities.
The knowledge and updating of the rules of Public Use by the operators reduce the impacts of tourism activities on the reef.
A Training Manual was developed in a digital version that is sent to all participants in the courses and serves as a support to reinforce the knowledge acquired by guides and captains.
1. Effective participation of tourist service providers in the Public Sub-Council
Curso de capacitación guías y capitanes
NIPARAJÁ
In 2011 a carrying capacity study (free and autonomous diving) was carried out in Cabo Pulmo by the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS), funded by Friends for the Conservation of Cabo Pulmo (ACCP) and supported by Tourist Service Providers (TSP). This study established the basis of the Public Use Program and its results were discussed and modified based on the experience of all stakeholders. In 2014, the Sub-Council for Public Use was established, which is made up of CONANP, the TSP, Niparajá and UABCS. Within the agreed rules is a system of warnings where the TSP inform CONANP about each of their trips through VHF radio, in real time, recording the number of tourists and the places they will visit. The meetings of the Sub-Council for Public Use also defined the maximum number of vessels simultaneously per site, in order not to present a saturation of vessels, as well as other agreements related to the management of tourism activities. During 2016 we carried out the evaluation of compliance with the rules; of the 55 agreements, 90% were implemented and respected by the TSP. The active participation of providers since the inception of the rules has ensured their wide compliance.
The Sub-Council involves all sectors, and its work includes constant updating of the Public Use Program.
It has been possible to establish together the rules for the activities so that the experience of the visitors has not diminished, which is reflected in people who year after year return to the site and the high tourist demand on the site. This tourism has brought benefits to the town that has once again diversified its sources of income by investing in restaurants, lodgings and shops selling crafts and souvenirs.
It is necessary to have transparent and participatory processes to achieve the involvement of a community for the sustainable development and conservation of the Cabo Pulmo National Park, its ecosystems and species.
It is important to have guides, captains, tourist service providers and informed tourists to among all achieve the conservation of the reef and diving sites for the future.
An organized community that establishes and abides by rules can contribute significantly to the conservation of a protected natural area.
