Resource allocation for land acquisition is a common multiobjective problem that involves complex trade-offs. The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently uses the Targeted Resource Acquisition Comparison Tool (TRACT) to allocate funds from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF; established through the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Act of 1934) for land acquisition based on cost–benefit analysis, regional priority rankings of candidate land parcels available for acquisition, and the overall biological contribution to duck population objectives. However, current policy encourages decision makers to consider societal and economic benefits of lands acquired, in addition to their biological benefits to waterfowl. These decisions about portfolio elements (i.e., individual land parcels) require an analysis of the difficult trade-offs among multiple objectives. In the last decade the application of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods has been instrumental in aiding decision makers with complex multiobjective decisions. In this study, we present an alternative approach to developing land-acquisition portfolios using MCDA and modern portfolio theory (MPT). We describe the development of a portfolio decision analysis tool using constrained optimization for land-acquisition decisions by the NWRS. We outline the decision framework, describe development of the prototype tool in Microsoft Excel, and test the results of the tool using land parcels submitted as candidates for MBCF funding in 2019. Our results indicate that the constrained optimization outperformed the traditional TRACT method and ad hoc portfolios developed using current NWRS criteria.

中文翻译：

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多标准决策和投资组合分析：为生物和社会目标而征地

征地资源配置是一个常见的多目标问题，涉及复杂的权衡取舍。美国鱼类和野生动物管理局的国家野生动物保护区系统 (NWRS) 目前使用目标资源获取比较工具 (TRACT) 从候鸟保护基金 (MBCF；通过 1934 年的候鸟狩猎和保护法案建立) 分配资金用于基于成本效益分析的土地征用、可供征用的候选地块的区域优先级排名，以及对鸭群目标的总体生物贡献。然而，目前的政策鼓励决策者考虑土地获得的社会和经济利益，以及它们对水禽的生物学利益。这些关于投资组合元素的决策（即，个别地块）需要分析多个目标之间的艰难权衡。在过去十年中，多标准决策分析 (MCDA) 方法的应用有助于帮助决策者做出复杂的多目标决策。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种使用 MCDA 和现代投资组合理论 (MPT) 开发土地收购投资组合的替代方法。我们描述了投资组合决策分析工具的开发，该工具使用 NWRS 的土地收购决策的约束优化。我们概述了决策框架，描述了 Microsoft Excel 中原型工具的开发，并使用作为 2019 年 MBCF 资助候选提交的地块测试了该工具的结果。