Conservation efforts for the American burying beetle were off to a rocky start. Measuring just 1.5 inches long, these endangered carrion beetles had unearthed a lot of strife among the conservationists trying to save them.
Carrion beetles are nature’s undertakers. They bury carcasses, eat the flesh of dead animals, and use corpses as the staging ground for nearly all of their significant biological needs: mating, giving birth, and caring for their young.
Though once found in 35 states across the United States, only two American burying beetle populations were believed to remain by 1989. They were added to state and federal endangered species lists, which launched conservation efforts across the country. The species had been declining for nearly a century, and although the exact reason is still a mystery, disruption in the food web and habitat loss are likely to blame.
As conservation efforts got underway, some recovery groups disagreed on details about the trapping methods used while surveying beetles in the wild. Ongoing disputes caused collaboration among these would-be conservation partners—zoos, land managers, universities, and state and national government agencies—to stall. Several years of contentious, unproductive meetings ensued, making attempts to reconcile increasingly complicated.
Knowing its reputation for achieving agreement and resolving conflict, the recovery groups invited CPSG to lead a new approach to reaching consensus.
CPSG kicked off the 2005 workshop by presenting a set of ground rules to establish an atmosphere conducive to respectful conversations about contentious issues. When the participants agreed to abide by the ground rules and became confident that the rules would be enforced, the anxiety in the room dissipated.
CPSG used an activity called “mind mapping” to create a visual representation of issues and needs related to the long-term survival of American burying beetles. Each person expressed what they believed were important topics, and they added those ideas to a colorful diagram on the wall, connecting each issue to the overall theme.
Next, the participants divided into groups to delve more deeply into the issues displayed on the mind map and to identify possible solutions. One by one, the small groups presented their ideas, each time igniting a lengthy, animated discussion. With CPSG facilitating the conversation and enforcing the ground rules, the participants realized that their opinions were not so incompatible after all.
“We discovered that the source of disagreement was often just a misunderstanding between us—sometimes about differing definitions for a single word,” said Bob Merz, Director of the Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation at the Saint Louis Zoo. “CPSG led us through those difficult phases to get the issues out in the open, which allowed the group to see past the words to the intent.”
At the close of the workshop, people who were very recently in direct conflict smiled and shook hands, wishing each other well. “The workshop helped us realize that we were partners already,” said Merz.
The resulting plan has played a critical role in the recovery effort, guiding the development of protocols for monitoring, breeding, and eventually reintroducing American burying beetles to the wild.
Work to reestablish beetles in several states continues, and each group of reintroduced beetles in Missouri has survived the winter to produce offspring. Since 2012, numbers of beetles at all life stages have increased, and surveys show beetles spreading from their original reintroduction sites, including to a nearby protected site. Perhaps just as importantly, the spirit of collaboration sparked by the workshop environment has also survived.
About a week after the meeting, Bob Merz was walking across the zoo grounds when he met Jeffrey Bonner, the Saint Louis Zoo CEO. “He asked me how the meeting went, and I told him that five or ten years down the road, everyone involved would look back on this meeting and see it as a turning point in the conservation of this endangered beetle. Ten years later that prediction is holding true.”
