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Does Public Participation Really Matter in Public Lands Management? Some Evidence From a National Forest
Author(s) -
Davis Steven
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1997.tb00839.x
Subject(s) - skepticism , commodity , service (business) , national forest , forest management , public participation , political science , point (geometry) , business , public relations , marketing , geography , forestry , finance , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology
This study offers evidence concerning the efficacy of public participation in influencing the policy outcomes of the United States Forest Service, focusing on the decisions of the Siskiyou National Forest over a nine‐year period. This study examines participants' experiences with the process and compares outcomes in this forest in relation to the level of participation which accompanied each decision. What was found was that: (1) participants tended to be quite skeptical about Forest Service motives and felt inefficacious regarding their own participation, and (2) decisions featuring increased levels of environmentalist input did seem to nudge policy decisions away from the most anti‐environmental, pro‐commodity positions, but only to a point, after which increased input seemed to accomplish little.