Knowledge sharing for the advancement of ecological restoration

As public land management agencies develop, the amount of knowledge they have about the land increases. This increase creates a web of knowledge that is accessed in different ways by individuals and groups. Although compiling institutional knowledge in a coherent manner can increase efficiency and enable coordinated restoration efforts, land managers can be wary of sharing knowledge organization widely and might even refrain from disseminating documents and other resources they develop. In this study, a conceptual framework is developed to understand the relationship between risk and knowledge sharing in ecological restoration. I applied a mixed method approach including nine in-person interviews and a survey that employed an experimental design. The survey was distributed to the professional staff (N = 51) of the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Results indicated that risk significantly affected a model for knowledge sharing to advance ecological restoration