ABSTRACT
Societal values are often the primary factors influencing the goals and objectives of a monitoring or management plan (Elzinga et al. 2001; Yoccoz et al. 2001). Consequently, it is important to understand what goals society has for the resources involved. There are many guidelines available that document how best to identify, engage, and understand stakeholders in an issue; empower them in decision-making as the plan is developed; and integrate them as key partners in the adaptive management process. Yet these are far from simple tasks, and even if societal values are fully understood and integrated, these values change, sometimes abruptly. Societies, cultures, and the expectations of their members evolve as surely as do species and ecological communities. This presents a daunting challenge for those charged with developing a monitoring plan, because the selection of the species and habitat elements, and the scales over which they are measured, must be selected now in the absence of knowing if these will be the correct parameters to have measured 5, 10, 20, or 100 years from now (Figure 4.1).
