Project Planning - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 1

PART I
Project Planning
Part I provides the fundamentals of the project planning process. We start off with developing an
ecological restoration project by describing the major phases of a project: project planning, design,
implementation, and aftercare. Understanding the why, what, when, where, and how for each of
these phases is critical to a successful project.
Chapter 2 focuses on project management to provide an overall understanding of how a project
can be managed. It is a summary of project management practices in relation to an ecological res-
toration project. Many tools, checklists, tables, and series of questions have been provided to help
you advance your project. Not all of what we provide will necessarily be of value to your specific
project. A tool or method used for one project may not be suitable for another. Such is the nature
of ecological restoration, in which no two projects are exactly alike. Similarly, the circumstances
of a project typically differ, or during your investigations you may discover differences that were
not initially apparent. You will have to make choices. Our aim is to provide you with sufficient
background so that you feel you have made informed decisions.
One of the most challenging, and sometimes frustrating, aspects of a project is defining the
project. Commonly, a project is “self-evident,”; however, many projects involve factors that require
careful deliberation and that typically are discovered only after some investigative effort. Defining
your project (chapter 3) requires understanding the project site, which will greatly enhance the
vision you develop in formulating a project. For some large projects, your initial effort will be only
the first of many projects in the same program. Budgets are a major governor of projects in terms
of the money to pay for material or labor or the equipment to get the work done. This is where
the process of developing a project becomes iterative, with adjustments on the “want” side to the
“done by” or “paid with” side of the ledger. In the end, most projects reflect a compromise of some
type, either from resources or from other identified constraints. You will discover constraints and
opportunities as you proceed from one tool to another. This method will present you with poten-
tial options that can maximize your project's benefits.
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