AUTHORS: Devon Gaydos*, Anna Petrasova, Vaclav Petras – Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University; Richard Cobb, California Polytechnic University; Ross Meentemeyer, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University
ABSTRACT: Geospatial models allow users to explore the dynamics of complex socio-ecological processes occurring over large spatial and temporal scales, making them uniquely suited for ecological management applications. In many cases, however, models are developed without consideration of local stakeholder motivations or compelling user-friendly interfaces, fueling a knowledge-practice gap where better science has not necessarily lead to better management. Tangible Landscape, an open-source participatory modeling tool, has been designed to address this challenge by coupling a physical model of the landscape with a geographic information system. Tangible Landscape allows stakeholders to alter the landscape and instantly visualize the resulting ecological effects. As a team of interdisciplinary researchers, we are leveraging this novel modeling platform to engage stakeholders involved in sudden oak death management in southwest Oregon. Sudden oak death (SOD) is an extremely destructive plant disease which has killed millions of oaks and tanoaks along the Pacific coast. This area of Oregon faces an additional management challenge from a newly introduced strain of the pathogen. This new strain has been shown to be more aggressive, and further disease spread will put significant cultural, environmental and economic resources at risk. To address this issue, we are holding a series of participatory modeling workshops with Oregon stakeholders to evaluate potential management scenarios. We will be discussing results from the first of these workshops, and demonstrating the Tangible Landscape model in action.
