Recently, SEI has become more active in helping to inform conservation and environmental policy on a local and national scale, and the Institute hopes to grow even further in this direction in the future by arranging peer review of managmement decisions, organizing special workshops and symposia, and continuing successful dialogue and consensus-building programs, such as the Science and Policy Forum. As always, SEI does not advocate for specific management or conservation strategies. Rather, we seek to strengthen and solidify the use of science in forming environmental policies and practices.

Examples of our recent activities in this area include:

The Science and Policy Forum - This quarterly event brings together governmental and industrial land managers, policy makers, environmental advocates, and scientists in an informal, non-advesarial atmosphere where they can learn to appreciate each others concerns, approaches, and constraints and develop cooperative links.

Habitat Conservation Planning - HCPs have become the major tool for managing and protecting endangered species on non-federal lands, but serious concerns have been raised concerning their effectiveness. SEI, in cooperation with federal agencies, environmental groups, and industry, has been working to improve the use of science to address pressing HCP issues such as risk assesment, adaptive management, monitoring, and independent scientific input and peer review.

Peer Review - SEI already offers peer review and scientific advising. our conservation science panel is an important link between science and problem solving. Soon, we will begin developing an infrastructure linking policy and decision makers with scientific experts in the fields of ecology, marine biology, and conservation biology.

Symposia - SEI organized and ran the symposium, "Integrating Research into Policy" at the 1999 Society for Conservation Biology Meeting in Maryland. The meeting included presentations by several SEI scientists.