Organizational and administrative challenges and innovations

Authors: HAUTALUOMA, JACOB - Colorado State University; WOODMANSEE, ROBERT - Colorado State University; Kaplan, Nicole; MOORE, JOHN - Colorado State University; WOODMANSEE, CLARA - Colorado State University

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/22/2021
Publication Date: 2/26/2021
Citation: Hautaluoma, J., Woodmansee, R.G., Kaplan, N.E., Moore, J.C., Woodmansee, C.J. 2021. Organizational and administrative challenges and innovations. In: Woodmansee, R.G., Moore, J.C., Ojima, D.S., Richards, L., editors. Natural Resource Management Reimagined: Using the Systems Ecology Paradigm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 353-379.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Organizational and Administrative Challenges and Innovations describes some of the attributes and influencers of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) as a case study in performing collaborative ecosystem research from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Various aspects of the NREL organization have allowed it to exist and thrive for over half a century. One primary purpose of this chapter is to share lessons we learned to guide other institutions as they endeavor to establish or reinvigorate their own research organizations. It is our hope that ideas described within are gleaned in an effort to avoid some of the pitfalls that will inevitably arise in their development and take some of our successes and build upon those. Another purpose of this chapter is to inform scientists, both young and old, that when performing collaborative ecosystem research, they do not work in organizational isolation, but rather “stand on the shoulders of those who came before” (paraphrased from Bernard of Chartres and Isaac Newton among others) and they depend on those around them to hold them up so they can achieve their goals.