For three decades, communities, agencies, industries, and stakeholders throughout the Great Lakes have been working together to restore degraded ecosystems and revitalize local communities through the Areas of Concern Program. Their work constitutes a set of natural experiments in collaborative ecosystem-based management (EBM). Similar experiments have been occurring simultaneously elsewhere in North America and the world. Despite differences in scale, scope, and context, these initiatives all share several notable attributes in common. These findings are distilled in a conceptual framework of core factors that enable effective EBM. The analogy of Bricks and Mortar distinguishes between the organizational elements that support, structure, and guide a process and the motivational factors that energize and sustain it. Bricks provide the governance infrastructure within which activities occur: the table that provides a legitimate convening place; the authorities, purpose, and scope that bound the initiative; the organizational form that ensures essential functions are fulfilled; and the formally codified roles and responsibilities. Mortar is what motivates people to engage and stay engaged: the relationships that they form and the personal skillsets they bring to the table; a shared sense of place, purpose, and responsibility; an effective and rewarding process; and sustained commitment and leadership at all levels. These findings about the critical role of Bricks and Mortar in enabling EBM are translated into simple diagnostic tools for assessing their strength and viability in similar initiatives within the Great Lakes region and elsewhere.

三十年来，五大湖区的社区、机构、行业和利益相关者一直在共同努力，通过关注领域计划恢复退化的生态系统并振兴当地社区。他们的工作构成了基于生态系统的协作管理 (EBM) 中的一组自然实验。类似的实验在北美和世界其他地方同时进行。尽管在规模、范围和背景方面存在差异，但这些举措都具有几个显着的共同特征。这些发现被提炼在一个核心因素的概念框架中，这些核心因素能够实现有效的 EBM。砖和砂浆的类比区分了支持、构建和指导过程的组织元素以及激发和维持过程的激励因素。砖块提供了活动发生的治理基础设施：提供合法召集场所的桌子；约束倡议的权限、目的和范围；确保履行基本职能的组织形式；以及正式编纂的角色和职责。迫击炮是激励人们参与和保持参与的动力：他们建立的关系和他们带来的个人技能；共同的地方感、目的感和责任感；一个有效且有益的过程；以及各级的持续承诺和领导。这些关于 Bricks and Mortar 在实现 EBM 方面的关键作用的发现被转化为简单的诊断工具，用于评估它们在五大湖地区和其他地方的类似举措中的实力和可行性。