STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING DECEMBER 19-20, 2013 PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Partner Metrics National LCC Network PMs Partner Metrics SIAS (USFWS)

SIAS (Purpose) Purpose of the Science Investment and Accountability Schedule (SIAS) developed by the Fish and Wildlife Service 1) to express the Services’ vision for, and to inform the Service’s investment in, an LCC 2) to help respond to Congressional direction that “the Service establish clear goals, objectives, and measurable outcomes for LCCs that can be used as benchmarks of success of the program.”

SIAS Comprised of 8 interrelated Conservation Activity Areas and associated benchmarks Just 1 component of a performance standards system for the LCCs Recognizes that the LCC network is a broad partnership relying on multiple investments. Designed to reflect values of these partners, and encourage partners to help develop other performance expectations and perhaps include them in future versions of the SIAS.

SIAS (Key items to address in 2014?) 1.C - Evaluating progress 2.C - Collate and establish conservation goals and measurable objectives 3.C - Integration of multiple priority resources and associated measurable objectives into landscape conservation designs 4.B – Information delivery 7.A - Data management and integration

National LCC PM Report Input from interviews, document review, other sector performance frameworks, 2-day charrette Key features: flexible, ability for LCC to choose which metrics to report on (maintain autonomy) but report collectively (collective impact), meaningful (outcomes vs. outputs) 48 PM frameworks/focused on 9  USFS Land Management Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Framework 2007  WWF Standards of Conservation Project and Programme Standards  Parks Canada Ecological Integrity tracking framework (NPS model as well)  Annie E. Casey Foundation framework for meausring performancet of programs to help disadvantaged youth  Black and Groombridge framework that adpats a business apporach to fit conservation needs  TNC Conservation Impact Measures

National LCC PM Report: Lessons Learned Scaling – What we discovered was that none of the frameworks had been successful at capturing performance at both the local (fine scale) and regional (course scale) level. Output vs. outcome – Many organizations had trouble tracking their outcomes and had reverted to primarily tracking output. Goals alignment – Alignment in goals among different efforts was quite important to being able to track performance over time.  Parks Canada created a small number of common goals that individual parks could choose to strive towards, allowing for alignment across different subsets of parks. Dedicated resources – Vital to success is having dedicated and substantial resources for performance tracking. Integration of learning culture – Successful measures should be integrated into the culture or process of the organization. Measures become part of the project design phase, and analyzing them becomes part of an overall learning culture (an integral part of adaptive management).  World Wildlife Fund recommend designing measures into every project/region/unit and having the larger network come together once a year to coordinate and share experiences and learning.

National LCC PM Recommendations Performance Measure #1 - Website and online mechanisms Performance Measure #2 - In-person and electronic communication of information Performance Measure #3 - LCC Funded Projects Performance Measure #4 - Outreach Performance Measure #5 - Linkages among LCCs and others Performance Measure #6 - Efficacy (on-the-ground conservation delivery)