Making "stuff" happen through public participation and consensus building

Abstract

The increasing emphasis on public participation in ecosystem-based planning suggests an enlarging need to determine what makes public participation successful and what criteria are useful in identifying when a consensus has been reached. These two questions were investigated in research involving two small planning areas on the Bitterroot National Forest. It was determined that successful public participation was multidimensional and involved writing a plan, plan implementation, social acceptability, learning, interest representation, responsibility, and relationships. Six conditions for consensus were found: agreement on the problem; problem definition is shared; inclusive of belief systems affected by the decision; extent to which participants can live with the decision; equal access to information and decision-makers; and extent to which agency is given permission to act.

Parent Publication

• The Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project: What we have learned

Citation

McCool, Stephen F. 2000. Making "stuff" happen through public participation and consensus building. In: Smith, Helen Y., ed. 2000. The Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project: What we have learned: symposium proceedings; 1999 May 18-20; Missoula, MT. Proc. RMRS-P-17. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 67-70