Learning Groups in Natural Resource Management: Collaboration on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Collaboration in natural resource management has been growing over the last 30 years. There are many examples of scientists or managers working with stakeholders to complete projects, but fewer examples of these groups all working together. We propose that when land managers, researchers, stakeholders, and tribes innovate and learn together, and include science-based experimentation, higher levels of trust are possible. We explore a social learning-based approach used to develop and run a large-scale adaptive forest management experiment on the Olympic Peninsula, WA. We describe an application of social learning that we refer to as learning groups which bring together people from different backgrounds and interests to address specific portions of the experiment. In this paper, we discuss methodologies to enact learning groups, an assessment of learning group categories, principles of success, and barriers to this approach to help others embark on collaborative work that seeks to inform natural resource management.