Development of Emerging Issues as Defined by Federal, State, and Local Governments Charged with Resource Management in the U.S. Arctic
The North Slope Science Initiative (NSSI) was developed by local, state and federal governments and entities with responsibilities for land and ocean management to facilitate and improve the collection and dissemination of ecosystem information pertaining to Alaska's North Slope, including coastal and offshore regions.
The NSSI was formally authorized in Section 348, Energy Policy Act of 2005 with eight objectives. Among the eight objectives are the need to identify information for inventory, monitoring and research activities, and develop an understanding of such information for agencies, local governments and the public. The development of the first 13 Emerging Issue Summaries provide a comprehensive view of the NSSI membership and its Science Technical Advisory Panel to address broad subject ares through the identification of management questions and information needs over the next two decades. The emerging issues can be used to validate many of the science directions already beging addressed by some agencies, help share human and monetary resources to address needs beyond the scope of an individual agency and help set systematic direction to collectively address science needs into the future for Alaska's North Slope.
This presentation will highlight 13 major subject areas and offer insight into a systematic approach to address each. The subject areas include: weather and climate; increasing marine activities; changing sea ice conditions; permafrost, coastal and riverine erosion; hydrology and lake drying; coastal salinization; contaninants; fire regime; vegetation change; and, species of interest including migratory birds, caribou and marine mammals and their prey. Each of these reflect the needs of resource managers. This effort is an outstanding example of identifying stakeholder needs, defining the role of research in both problem identification and solutions, and integrating stakeholder knowledge across multiple agency and government mandates, administrative boundaries and scientific disciplines.
