Resist, Accept, Direct (RAD) Management Framework and Case Study

The Resist, Accept, Direct (RAD) framework lays out three approaches for resource managers supporting ecosystems undergoing transformations. The first is to Resist the changes by attempting to maintain ecosystems in their current state or restore a historical state. For example, in the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, managers restore stream banks, remove and monitor invasive species, proactively manage fire, and increase landscape connectivity through highway over- or underpasses to preserve existing ecosystems. The next approach is to Accept changes that cannot be feasibly resisted or that are acceptable to society. For example, local communities in the Kenai Penninsula have accepted changes in fish and wildlife communities brought about by large-scale climate change effects, such as warming stream temperatures, melting glaciers, rising tree lines, drying wetlands, and out-of-control invasive species. The final approach is to Direct changes to a different state, either because resistance is unrealistic or there is an opportunity to move toward a desirable future state. For example, after a spruce bark beetle epidemic and human-caused fires turned white spruce forests into a novel grassland ecosystem in the Kenai Penninsula, managers are planting trees from neighboring regions and are considering introducing large grazers to stabilize the new grasslands and related communities.