Findings of an evaluation of public involvement programs associated with the development of a Land and Resource Management Plan for the Ouachita National Forest
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
Federal regulations require the United States Forest Service (USFS) to integrate public input and values into decisions concerning land and resource management planning. The USFS has typically relied on traditional methods of involving the public, whereby public access and input to policy development are unilaterally controlled by the agency. Because of the highly political nature of land and resource management planning, such technocratic forms of public involvement and decision-making appear to be proving ineffective. This paper describes and evaluates two public involvement programs associated with the Ouachita National Forest`s (ONF) lengthy forest planning process. The research consisted of personal interviews with key program leaders and knowledgeable citizen participants, collection of secondary data, and a survey of citizen participants. Because of controversial planning decisions made during an initial planning process, the ONF was forced to re-enter the planning process in order to address unresolved planning issues and to conduct a more effective public involvement program. The supplemental planning process also resulted in a considerable degree of public contention. The survey revealed that although citizen participants were somewhat more satisfied with the supplemental public involvement program relative to the initial program, neither program was viewed as satisfactory. The findings of the study suggest that in order to be more effective, USFS public involvement programs should be more responsive to public concerns and conducted in adherence to principles of collaborative planning.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 10108222
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA-22929; CONF-9308196-1; ON: DE94004311
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Interagency symposium on property rights,Orlando, FL (United States),7 Aug 1993; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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