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Session Title: Crossing the Threshold: Addressing Methodological, Institutional and Cultural Challenges in Environmental Evaluation in an Era of Performance Management

Panel Session 850 to be held in Hopkins Room on Saturday, November 10, 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Sponsored by the Environmental Program Evaluation TIG

Chair(s):

Katherine payday loan  Dawes payday loan ,  United States Environmental Protection Agency,  dawes.katherine@epa.gov

Abstract: Policy makers and program managers in the fields of natural resource conservation and environmental management are experiencing a growing need to assess impacts of existing environmental programs and to build capacity for assessing current and future programs. To learn more systematically from our collective experiences, the U.S. EPA and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation developed a network for environmental and conservation evaluators and a second networking forum for environmental, natural resource, and conservation evaluators and evaluation consumers last June. The previous year's forum brought together over 90 participants across four countries and two continents from the public, non-profit, academic, and private sectors. The presentations in this panel session focus on institutional and methodological insights that arose from this forum and areas for future contributions to the environmental and conservation evaluation field.

The Methodological Challenge of Estimating Net Impacts of Conservation Efforts: A Meta-Evaluation Analysis of Ten Impact Studies Conducted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 2003-2007 Matthew payday loan  Birnbaum payday loan ,  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,  matthew.birnbaum@nfwf.org The field of environmental program evaluation is nascent with no dominant paradigm yet emerging. Many conservation efforts begin without any attempts at developing reliable baseline measures for monitoring progress or incorporating any other type of replicate. Consequently, problems of scaling, time horizons, and attribution present particularly huge methodological challenges for estimating net impacts of program portfolios and the projects contained in them. Given a general absence of baselines and controls, the evaluators have exercised a substantive level of creativity in discerning patterns in learning from past investments. This paper presents key findings of the methods, designs and processes adopted by evaluators for ten impact studies conducted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation during 2003-2007 to arrive at estimates of net impacts given the methodological realities confronting the investigators. It concludes with recommendations for moving the field of evaluation practice forward in the new milieu of environmental outcome-based grant making.

Environmental Program Evaluation Practice and Theory: Gaps and Overlaps Matt payday loan  Keene payday loan ,  United States Environmental Protection Agency,  keene.matt@epa.gov To address the dearth of evidence-based decision making, the environmental community is demanding more quality evaluations of environmental programs. Researchers are supporting the demand by providing strategic recommendations for a diverse audience of practitioners including managers, researchers, and units responsible for evaluation. Here, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's evaluation unit, the Evaluation Support Division (ESD), reviews ten recommendations and presents them from a practitioner's perspective. In a real world' scenario, we discuss our role and responsibility for acting on recommendations and attempt to stoke the dialogue between researchers and practitioners. Our review considers overlap and gaps between strategic guidance and its implementation within ESD. From this review and our experience, we conclude that establishing a common vision for the future of evaluation is paramount to efficiently improving the practices of the environmental community.

The Environmental Evaluator's Networking Forum: Insights and Future Applications Katherine payday loan  Dawes payday loan ,  United States Environmental Protection Agency,  dawes.katherine@epa.gov Katherine Dawes is the Director of the Evaluation Support Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which is co-hosting the environmental evaluator's forum. Evaluations overseen or conducted by this division are used to improve the quality of public health and environmental protection by supporting innovation, encouraging continuous improvement, and informing management decisions. Ms. Dawes also serves as the chairperson of AEA's Environmental Topical Interest Group. In both these capacities, Ms. Dawes works at the forefront of the emerging environmental program and policy evaluation field and brings a critical perspective on the use environmental evaluation practices and methods in a major federal agency.