Building capacity for civic engagement and natural resource management in the National Park Service

Clarke, Melinda; Kirsten, Leong

The National Park Service (NPS) has a unique position among federal agencies in that its mission includes preservation and public use. Fulfilment of these two aspects of the conservation and compliance with federal laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that NPS engage with publics from diverse backgrounds and who may hold a range of different relationships to the resources protected in parks. Director’s Order (DO) 75A expresses a commitment by NPS to engaging publics in natural and cultural resource management. DO-75A implies that civic engagement prior to a NEPA process can support NPS goals of reduced planning timeframes, better community relations and other ways of “connecting people to parks”. Although some resources are available, specific guidance and examples of tools and processes for natural resources are lacking. The purpose of this project was to assess the current role of civic engagement in NPS activities in the context of increasingly complex resource management challenges and diverse publics with increasing interest in and access to resource management decision-making. Specifically, the connection between civic engagement and formal NEPA planning was assessed along with perceived benefits and barriers to use of civic engagement, especially before the NEPA process. Semi-structured informal interviews were conducted with NPS employees with significant experience implementing civic engagement activities. Interviewees discussed the definition of and experiences with civic engagement; best practices/barriers for civic engagement in general and for natural resource management; the relationship between civic engagement and NEPA input; and available and desired resources. Interviewees provided diverse perspectives on uses of civic engagement and the benefits of effective civic engagement. They also identified barriers that hinder productive civic engagement. Interviewees indicated perspectives that could be categorized along the entire public engagement spectrum from information provision to full collaborative decision-making and community empowerment. Interviews reflected a general feeling that civic engagement is beneficial, but specific benefits were hard for interviewees to articulate. However, several general categories of benefit did emerge from interviews. There was a sense that the need for civic engagement is not only the result of social and ecological transformations, but also has the potential to transform how natural resource issues are perceived and addressed. There was also recognition that there is great, but unrealized, potential for civic engagement to contribute to formal NEPA planning. Civic engagement can build relationships and channels for communication that can be leveraged in planning and can act as an early warning system for issues may become controversial. Civic engagement also can build trust between parties, which can facilitate NEPA planning and prevent litigation, and can also help NPS decision-makers access different sources of knowledge that may facilitate NEPA planning. This, according to interviewees, could lead to decisions that better meet both social and ecological management goals and are more resilient to legal challenge. Interviewees recognized several challenges that hinder development of civic engagement activities. They employed varying definitions of civic engagement and the activities that relate to engaging publics in NPS resource management activities. Their definitions reflected different public involvement and governance paradigms. Multiple definitions and unstated paradigmatic differences create the potential for miscommunication and frustration in elaborating the goals of a civic engagement process, threatening its success.

Building capacity for civic engagement and natural resource management in the National Park Service

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