Emerging diseases have the potential to affect social, economic and ecological interests of North American resource managers, who are entrusted by society to manage protected areas and wildlife populations. Resource managers must consider multiple social, economic and ecological objectives, which result in difficult trade-offs for any given disease management strategy (i.e., an optimal action for managing a wildlife disease may result in declines in recreational or economic values). Complexity arises in balancing numerous and competing demands on land managers, and this effectively limits our ability to identify and implement proactive management – representing a major challenge for developing management strategies for Bsal and other emerging infectious diseases. Decision science represents a framework for developing strategies and determining a course of action in the face of uncertainty. Decision analysis helps identify optimal solutions across potentially competing management objectives.

The goal of the Decision Science Working Group (DSWG) of the North American Bsal Task Force is to support management decisions regarding Bsal through:

  • facilitation of decision-making processes
  • identification and collation of information needed to make decisions
  • development of models to predict the outcomes of different management options
  • evaluation of trade-offs and risk to overcome impediments to optimal decision-making

Member list

The DSWG is currently composed of members, representing both Federal agency and academic entities. Collectively, the group has decades of experience in decision science, amphibian and pathogen ecology, mathematical modeling, and working with state and Federal land managers.

Co-Chair, Molly Bletz, The Pennsylvania State University

Co-Chair, Evan H. Campbell Grant, U.S. Geological Survey, Northeast Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (profile)

Katrina Alger, U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center (profile)

Riley F. Bernard, University of Wyoming (profile)

Stefano Canessa, University of Ghent (profile)

Brittany Mosher, University of Vermont (profile)

Katherine Richgels, U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center (profile)

Robin Russell, U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center (profile)

Alex Wright, Michigan State University (profile)