E-Mail MISSOULA, Mont., May 24, 2021 -- Scientists from the Rocky Mountain Research Station collaborated to explore how research and management can confront increasing uncertainty due to climate change, invasive species, and land use conversion. Wildland management and policy have long depended on the idea that ecosystems are fundamentally static, and periodic events like droughts are just temporary detours from a larger, stable equilibrium. However, ecosystems are currently changing at unprecedented rates. For example, bark beetle infestations, droughts, and severe wildfires have killed large numbers of trees across the western United States. In many cases, these changes may be irreversible. In new research published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, Dr. Kevin McKelvey and colleagues from several Rocky Mountain Research Station science programs suggest ways for managers to respond. As ecosystems change in increasingly unpredictable ways, we will need more flexible and adaptive approaches to manage them. Rather than relying on knowledge of what ecosystems once looked like, we will need to learn and adjust to new conditions quickly. To achieve that goal, the authors recommend a more inclusive and collaborative governance model that would increase public and stakeholder participation, integrate research and management, and incorporate multiple forms of knowledge, including from indigenous communities. Such an approach, they argue, will encourage collaborative learning, increase trust in management, and allow for more efficient responses to change.