Public Lands Conflict and Resolution: Managing National Forest Disputes PDF
Preview Public Lands Conflict and Resolution: Managing National Forest Disputes
Public Lands Conflict and Resolution Managing National Forest Disputes ENVIRONMENT, DEVELOPMENT, AND PUBLIC POLICY A series of volumes under the general editorship of Lawrence Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING Series Editor: Lawrence Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts BEYOND THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNIT Residential Environments and Public Policy Tribid Banerjee and William C. Baer ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION Lawrence S. Bacow and Michael Wheeler ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND AMERICAN BUSINESS Dilemmas of Compliance Joseph F. DiMento THE LAND USE POLICY DEBATE IN THE UNITED STATES Edited by Judith I. de Neufville PATERNALISM, CONFLICT, AND COPRODUCTION Learning from Citizen Action and Citizen Participation in Western Europe Lawrence Susskind and Michael Elliott PUBLIC LANDS CONFLICT AND RESOLUTION Managing National Forest Disputes Julia M. Wondolleck RESOLVING DEVELOPMENT DISPUTES THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS Timothy J. Sullivan Other subseries: CITIES AND DEVELOPMENT Series Editor: Lloyd Rodwin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts PUBLIC POLICY AND SOCIAL SERVICES Series Editor: Gary Marx, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Public Lands Conflict and Resolution Managing National Forest Disputes Julia M. Wondolleck School of Natural Resources The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wondolleck, Julia Marie. Public lands conflict and resolution: managing national forest disputes / Julia M. Wondolleck. p. cm.—(Environment, development, and public policy. Environmental policy and planning) Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4899-0800-1 1. United States—Public lands. 2. Forest reserves—United States. 3. Forest policy— United States. I. Title. II. Series. HD205.W66 1988 88-13991 333.1'0973—dcl9 CIP ISBN 978-1-4899-0800-1 ISBN 978-1-4899-0798-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0798-1 First Printing—May 1988 Second Printing—June 1991 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 1988 Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1988 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher To Steve Preface The United States Forest Service, perhaps more than any other federal agency, has made great strides during the past two decades revolution izing its public involvement efforts and reshaping its profile through the hiring of professionals in many disciplinary areas long absent in the agency. In fact, to a large extent, the agency has been doing precisely what everyone has been clamoring for it to do: involving the public more in its decisions; hiring more wildlife biologists, recreation specialists, sociologists, planners, and individuals with "people skills"; and, fur thermore, taking a more comprehensive and long-term view in planning the future of the national forests. The result has been significant-in some ways, monumental-changes in the agency and its land manage ment practices. There are provisions for public input in almost all as pects of national forest management today. The profeSSional disciplines represented throughout the agency's ranks are markedly more diverse than they have ever been. Moreover, no stone is left untumed in the agency's current forest-planning effort, undoubtedly the most compre hensive, interdisciplinary planning effort ever undertaken by a resource agency in the United States. Regardless of the dramatic change that has occurred in the U.S. Forest Service since the early 1970s, the agency is still plagued by con flicts arising from dissatisfaction ~th how it is doing business. From timber, minerals-and fuels-industry interests to local, regional, and na tional environmental organizations, attention to and criticism of the agency's activities has been unrelenting. It is impOSSible to look at an agency estimating that it will receive upward of one thousand admin istrative appeals on its forthcoming forest plans and not wonder if some thing is not amiss. The U.S. Forest Service has found itself between a rock and a hard vii viii PREFACE place. It is in the unenviable position of choosing between legitimate and reasonable claims that, unfortunately, compete for the same limited resources. Whichever way the agency goes, it only lands right in the middle of a battlefield with its hands tied by administrative appeals, lawsuits, or Congressional intervention. Forest Service officials are often frustrated by the seeming futility of their land management efforts. En vironmental and industry groups and local communities are similarly frustrated by what they perceive to be an unresponsive bureaucracy. There must be a better way. The purpose of this book is to try to help define that "better way." In this respect, the story told here should be a promising one. Whereas many chapters do document and lament the agency's current malaise and much that is seemingly "wrong" in current forest management decision-making procedures, the intent is solely to pinpoint where the heart of this pervasive conflict lies in order to understand how we might better manage it. Although many have asked the question, Who might better manage the national forests given the current impasse?, I take a different approach and ask, How might the U.S. Forest Service better fulfill its complex mandate? How might the agency provide oppor tunities in its decision-making processes that meaningfully involve af fected national-forest-user groups in representing their own values and concerns and, in so doing, satisfy them that these values and concerns are indeed being accommodated? How and when might the agency pro vide incentives for collaboration among its constituent groups rather than the now all-too-predictable adversarial battling? And, perhaps most critically, How might the agency rebuild public trust in it? Since the mid-1970s, there has been considerable interest in and experimentation with decision-making processes specifically designed to resolve multiparty, public disputes, much as those plaguing national forest management. There are many people in the Forest Service and its constituent groups who are skeptical of the notion that some national forest management disputes might be resolved. They question how there can ever be a common ground between such diverse and com bative interests as those making themselves a part of national forest management. Yet the idea is more than simply a notion, and that is what makes it so exciting. The idea is currently in practice, formally in some agencies and informally in the Forest Service itself. Given the historical willingness of the Forest Service to experiment, to be on the forefront of public involvement efforts at the federal level, and given how much it and its constituent groups potentially have to gain, the promise of such dispute resolution efforts is great. Moreover, as the cases described in this book illustrate, environmental and industry groups want to partici- ix PREFACE pate more directly in what happens in the national forest system be cause they have such a great stake in it. They want and need to know and understand the realistic constraints bounding the agency's actions as well as be a part of creative solutions that they can support and have some ownership in. Certainly, not all public land disputes are resolvable collaboratively, but it appears that some are if simply given the opportunity . The dispute resolution ideas in this book are those of many practi tioners and scholars in the field; I am truly indebted to them for both directly and indirectly sharing their experiences and enthusiasm with me. I want especially to thank Lawrence Susskind for his many insights in all phases of work on this book and for sharing his experiences and ideas on public dispute resolution and Lawrence Bacow who provided much patience, encouragement, and guidance on an earlier version of this book. I am also grateful to James Crowfoot for his continued sup port as I completed this book and for his fresh perspectives on my ideas. I also want to acknowledge the faculty, staff, and graduate students associated with the Environmental Impact Assessment Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Environmental Conflict Project at the University of Michigan'S School of Natural Resources. Throughout my research, many people in the U.S. Forest Service, oil, gas, and timber industries, and environmental organizations gave generously of their time in helping me understand the specific events that transpired in several conflicts analyzed in this book. I would es pecially like to thank Al Reuter and Gary Marple of the Bridger-Teton National Forest; Phil Hocker of the Sierra Club; Kea Bardeen of the Mountain States Legal Foundationi Dick Hamilton of Getty Oil Com pany; and Story Clark of the Jackson Hole Alliance for Responsible Planning. My gratitude goes as well to Matt Cullen and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for their financial support and much needed independence during the early part of this research; and to John F. Hennessey for his fellowship support during the first stage of this research at MIT. I would like to thank Alan Altshuler for his valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this book. I am also grateful to James Burchfield, Lisa Bardwell, Martha Tableman and Nancy Manring for their comments on different versions of the manuscript as it evolved and to Susan Yonts-Shepard for sharing her experiences and reflections on the potentials and problems of applying dispute resolution concepts and processes within the U.S. Forest Service. Finally, words cannot express the debt of gratitude that lowe my parents, my family, and my friends for their support and encourage- x PREFACE ment thrOUghout my work on this book. To Steve Yaffee, whose con sistent encouragement, prodding, and understanding combined with invaluable scholarly guidance, has been the one constant throughout all stages of this book. And to Anna, whose little smile provided the sun shine during the final stages of this book and gave me the greatest incentive to finish it quickly. Julia M. Wondolleck Ann Arbor, Michigan
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