Assessing the Potential of Scenario Planning as a Public Participation Tool for Public Land Managers

This professional paper examines scenario planning and how it may be used as a scoping planning tool for climate change and fire, fuels, and smoke management decision-making. This paper first reviews United States Forest Service fire management policies and public participation requirements and practices. It also reviews the literature on the use of scenario planning in natural resources management and documents specific cases of scenario planning relevant to U.S. federal lands management. Scenario planning is best used in a variety of ways, with variation in how it is linked to agency decision-making, the scale in which it is used, and the role the public plays in the process. Scenario planning also demonstrates the strengths of a successful public participation tool because it enables mutual learning among participants and allows them to weigh the trade-offs of policy alternatives.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ehrman, Matthew K

• NEPA
• fire management planning
• public participation
• scoping
• federal land management
• scenario planning

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/71

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1090