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Engaging the Public in Planning

Teri Tucker, NPS Planning & Compliance Lead (Environmental Protection Specialist) Mount Rainier National Park Washington   Engaging the Public in Planning (ArcGIS Storymaps): Fryingpan Creek Bridge Replacement Project Mount Rainier National Park: Nisqually to Paradise Draft Corridor Management Plan    NOTE: If you are asked to sign in to ArcGIS Online, select “cancel” to view […]

Understanding Collaboration

In her classic book, Collaborating, Barbara Gray defines collaboration as “a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible.” Collaboration contributes significantly to effective and sustainable public land management. Understanding the expectations, […]

Collaboration in NEPA Handbook: A Handbook for NEPA Practitioners

One of the primary goals of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is to encourage meaningful public input and involvement in the process of evaluating the environmental impacts of proposed federal actions. This once innovative feature of the 1970 landmark legislation has become routine practice for some NEPA review processes. However, the full potential for […]

Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector

By Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers. Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution Press, 2004. A fundamental, but mostly hidden, transformation is happening in the way public services are being delivered, and in the way local and national governments fulfill their policy goals. Government executives are redefining their core responsibilities away from managing workers and providing services […]

Field Guide to Developing Partnerships

With the recently documented loss of 2.9 billion birds over 50 years in North America, unprecedented and creative partnerships are needed more than ever to advance bird conservation goals. Many bird conservation outcomes align with broader societal goals, such as water quality and human health, creating opportunities for meaningful and productive partnerships that advance goals […]

Collaboration and Conflict Transformation in Multiparty Processes

Natural resource professionals involved in multiparty collaborative decision processes face increasingly complex decisions where underlying conflict can undermine their efficacy if unknown or inappropriately addressed. Conflict transformation encompasses managing and resolving conflict by harnessing the energy inherent in conflicts to motivate change and improvement, not only of the decision but also of the institutions and […]

Liberating Structures

Five conventional structures guide the way we organize routine interactions and how groups work together: presentations, managed discussions, open discussions, status reports and brainstorm sessions. Liberating Structures add 33 more options to the big five conventional approaches. When you feel included and engaged, do you do a better job? Do you think teams in which people work well together […]