The text offers a set of four fixes to the problem of dealing with uncertainty and complexity (p. 85). But first, why learn about the problems and solutions. Can you anticipate every rare event or complex interaction? No, but you, as a well-trained conservationist, should be a voice for better planning and thinking that incorporates uncertainty and surprise. You should be the team member who reminds the others that disturbance events are inevitable, and "What if????".

1. Holistic thinking by all concerned parties. In a sense this is simply a call for better planning, better thinking, but it is also a call for stretching the thinking to a broader group (e.g., linking state and local conservation so that state politics, nor local politics, alone cannot dictate the outcome).
2. Modeling and statistical analysis. Computer models allow simulations of events and time series, and, if constructed with the correct statistical tools can even reveal the likely effects of random and rare events. This is part of "scenario analysis": (which does not necessarily require computer models, we’re doing scenarios in some of our class exercises). A common form of scenario simulation is "sensitivity analysis" in which you change parameters, maybe to stress a system, to see how the variables respond and assess how close the system may be to undergoing significant change, or what variables are good subjects for manipulation. Error analysis inserts random errors in the model to simulate unknowable events.
3. Prudence and buffers: More effort is needed to prepare systems for rare events and surprises. Also need to try to detect and correct avoidable errors. In cases of poor data, more prudence and conservative management is in order. Finally, where variance is high, buffers should be maintained. Water managers do this all the time, but many other cases of resource management seem to gravitate toward maximum yield or harvest, even where over-harvest may harm the population. Why? Try setting a low quota on, say, harvest in a fisheries on which many people and several fishing towns, rely!
4. Adaptive Management: we’ll have a whole chapter on this next. The basic notion is that management is an experiment, always watching the results and incorporating them into new planning. You might put it this way: "Assess-act-monitor-reassess." Unfortunately, institutions make it hard for conservation professionals to change their actions, or to experiment.