Active adaptive management has recently been advocated for efficiently reducing resource management uncertainties, but no documented applications to forestry issues exist in Ontario. This paper reports the experience of a diverse partnership applying active adaptive management to improve techniques for obtaining desired boreal mixedwood structure and composition in northeastern Ontario. Institutional and economic barriers have been more limiting than technical barriers. Building and maintaining the partnership have required considerable effort, and opportunities for conflict were greatest in the assessment and design steps of the adaptive management cycle. The partnership has maintained its progress by promoting flexibility, trust, and consensus-building. This study demonstrates that classical adaptive management can be simplified for application in local management units. A broader application of active adaptive management in Ontario will require senior decision-makers to endorse a strategy that includes staff retraining, admission of management uncertainties, cooperation among management agencies, stability of long-term funding, encouragement of innovation, and regular adjustment of policies and practices.

consensus-building, designed learning, forest management policies, modelling, monitoring, partnerships, response indicators