Closing science information gaps to support wildlife management and natural resource decision making: a case study from the Prairie Potholes Region

Scientists increasingly want to make the science they produce useful and usable for decision-makers, and decision-makers often recognize the need to include weather and climate information in decision-making processes. However, there is still a gap between the available science and science that is usable by decision-makers. In a study of the decision-making context for the wildlife management community in the Prairie Potholes Region (PPR), we studied how climate and weather information is being used (or not used) as one step toward closing this gap. The impacts of climate change on the future ecology and hydrology of prairie grassland and wetland habitats in the PPR is a key question for practitioners in the wildlife management community as they consider where to site long-term conservation actions. These decision makers do not merely need more science, but more communication and translation aimed at turning scientific data into meaningful information. For the wildlife management community in the PPR, climate and weather information needs are driven by the need to understand how projected changes in precipitation will impact prairie wetland ecology. Needs in the PPR include: guidance on how to select, understand, and use various climate information products; assistance understanding projected impacts; and accessible explanations of the differences between new and previously available science information such as the implications of new generations of climate models. We also identify the importance of placing new information in context with the local climate knowledge canon—key data or papers that have had significant influence in how decision-makers understand and use climate change information. Other important aspects of the decision context influencing the usability gap include existing management priorities, limited institutional resources, incomplete ecological data, and socio-economic processes. While these factors cannot be overcome solely by producing better or more accessible science, scientists can help reduce these barriers by improving communication and collaboration with information users and decision-makers. To end, we offer potential strategies to facilitate engagement between scientists and information users based on experience with three research-to-operations projects.