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Science and Decisions Center

The USGS Science and Decisions Center (SDC) is a unique and small interdisciplinary center which conducts integrated physical, biological, socioeconomic, and information science, advances decision-analytic methods in the USGS, and investigates innovative data collection and analysis methods with a goal of increasing the use and value of USGS science in decision making.

News

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SACNAS Virtual Presentation

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Floodplain Ecosystem Service Mapper Released

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Employing an Ecosystem Services Framework to Deliver Decision Ready Science

Publications

Estimating proximity effects to wildfire fuels treatments on house prices in Cibola National Forest, New Mexico, USA

Forested landscapes in the Western United States are subject to growing size and severity of wildfires, in part due to historical management strategies focusing on wildfire suppression. Forest restoration treatments and fuels reductions, including thinning and prescribed burning, can reduce the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Extensive restoration and fuels treatment efforts are underway acr
Authors
Ryan A. Fitch, Julie M. Mueller, James Meldrum, Christopher Huber

Recognizing political influences in participatory social-ecological systems modeling

Stakeholder participation in social-ecological systems (SES) modeling is increasingly considered a desirable way to elicit diverse sources of knowledge about SES behavior and to promote inclusive decision-making in SES. Understanding how participatory modeling processes function in the context of long-term adaptive management of SES may allow for better design of participatory processes to achieve
Authors
Theodore C. Lim, Pierre D. Glynn, Gary W. Shenk, Patrick Bitterman, Joseph H. A. Guillaume, John Little, D. G. Webster

Four conservation challenges and a synthesis

Conservation and management of biological systems involves decision-making over time, with a generic goal of sustaining systems and their capacity to function in the future. We address four persistent and difficult conservation challenges: (1) prediction of future consequences of management, (2) uncertainty about the system's structure, (3) inability to observe ecological systems fully, and (4) no
Authors
Byron K. Williams, Eleanor D. Brown

Science

Decision Science

We host strong decision science programs on University campuses listed below. Understanding cultural, social, and political factors drives decision-making. In other words, what people think matters. One of the key building blocks our program is we actively engage local communities and our research is relevant to the needs of the States, geographic regions, and the Nation. We make available new...
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Decision Science

We host strong decision science programs on University campuses listed below. Understanding cultural, social, and political factors drives decision-making. In other words, what people think matters. One of the key building blocks our program is we actively engage local communities and our research is relevant to the needs of the States, geographic regions, and the Nation. We make available new...
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About the Science and Decisions Center

Today's natural resource managers must make effective decisions with broad–scale societal impacts.
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About the Science and Decisions Center

Today's natural resource managers must make effective decisions with broad–scale societal impacts.
Learn More