Table Of ContentPublic 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
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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-
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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
