Evaluation of findings When a stakeholder shows up to a biological planning meeting, s/he can expect to engage in discussion about the information being presented to the group. This culture of discussion, however, has not always been present. For the first few years of biological planning meetings, the group struggled to really use the gatherings as a place to deliberate over the interpretation of monitoring data and its application to management decisions. Gita Bodner of TNC explains: “stakeholders and staff would look at [the synthesized data produced by the TNC]…and say, ‘okay, thank you’” (Bodner 2012). There was little to no discussion of it. Gita continues: “And then the grazing permittee would describe his proposed grazing rotations and number of cattle for the year and everybody would say ‘yes.’” (Bodner 2012). So, there was a mechanism for looping new information into decision-making, but it was not entirely effective (Bodner 2012). Karen, Gita and a few others worked to shift the expectations of the group to be more actively involved in data interpretation and decision-making. The Las Cienegas monitoring program is designed to measure whether conditions in the Sonoita Valley are progressing towards the management objectives or not. Data shows that some management strategies have been particularly effective at achieving RMP objectives, some strategies have not, and, some data is just hard to decipher. In 2011, the desired ground cover objectives had been met (more than 80% of sites designated as grassland communities had less than 30% of exposed soil surface). This was not a linear trajectory, however, and between 2004 and 2011, the percent of monitoring sites meeting this objective varied between 100% and 24%. During years with less rain, fewer monitoring areas met this objective, indicating that management interventions were not the only factors affecting bare ground cover. This highlights the challenge of assessing change in a dynamic system and the fundamental complexity of
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