Abstract
Establishing clear objectives for restoration can help to reduce uncertainty in restoration implementation by aligning actions with measurable outcomes. Several methods exist for developing objectives, such as conducting workshops to elicit and prioritize values from relevant stakeholders or facilitating activities to translate broad goals into measurable objectives. The establishment of these objectives, however, is often constrained to a particular jurisdictional boundary, aligned to a management program or funding source, or scaled to an individual project. Because an ecosystem does not adhere to these boundaries and limitations, holistic ecosystem restoration will require a systematic approach to connect disjointed objectives in order to measure progress at broader scales. Our solution to this challenge of aligning existing objectives for Gulf of Mexico restoration across multiple scales and jurisdictions was to conduct a rigorous synthesis of existing objectives. We began with values implicitly and explicitly described in Gulf Coast state management plans to develop a shared set of themes that reflect the values of stakeholders across state lines. To capture themes across management plans and generate a collective set of cross-boundary values and objectives, we used an iterative qualitative coding process, based on the Grounded Theory method commonly used in social science research. These themes, along with their interactions with stated stressors and strategies, can contribute to holistic development of restoration objectives. This presentation will provide details on the preliminary findings on the synthesized Gulf-wide values, and applicability of the synthesized data and interactive visualizations to a range of restoration managers, scientists, and decision-makers. This innovative approach of aligning objectives has the potential to enhance our understanding of cross-boundary values throughout broad ecosystems, improving our abilities to assess restoration progress holistically.
