Mechanisms Affecting Public Acceptance of Resource Management Policies and Strategies

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Abstract
Managing the issues which arise from Great Lakes rehabilitation efforts will involve some expertise in psychology and sociology and in the administration of public involvement processes. The components of issues which must be managed include inadequacies in our science, incomplete and/or conflicting public beliefs, and conflicting public values. Decisions must often be made without the benefit of complete scientific information, and the public is poorly prepared to deal with this limitation. Even when scientific knowledge is adequate, segments of the public may be uninformed and create issues. Most issues result from conflicts between users with differing value priorities in a management decision. Public involvement strategies exist to increase representative and interactive participation by citizens needed to resolve or avoid many issues, but additional strategies must be developed to deal with the difficult dynamics of value conflicts. The response of management agencies should be to implement long-range programs to develop their own expertise in the dynamics of public perceptions, citizen skills to participate in the management process, and more effective strategies for involving citizens in the difficult, value-laden resource management process.

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