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Social process in grizzly bear management: lessons for collaborative governance and natural resource policy

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Abstract

In this study, we analyze a case of governance in natural resource management. Building on the limited body of literature on termination and using methods of problem orientation and social process mapping, we examine a stakeholder engagement process designed to address conflicts in grizzly bear management in Banff National Park, Alberta. Terminated in 2009 after several years of collaboration, this stakeholder engagement process explicitly used the policy sciences framework to cultivate dialogue, improve participants’ decision-making skills, and make consensus-based recommendations for grizzly bear management. Our analysis demonstrates the utility of undertaking social process mapping and problem orientation in order to understand a natural resource policy problem. We include recommendations to foster a social process that allows for clarification and advancement of the common interest in stakeholder groups, insights into how social process can contribute to policy termination, and reflections on the practical, collaborative use of the policy sciences to solve problems of governance. This analysis complements other articles on this case that examine stakeholder perspectives, initial outcomes, and decision process, collectively providing a thorough policy analysis.

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Notes

  1. Over its lifetime, this group was called the GBDG and the IPS or process. Here, we use the former name.

  2. For a detailed appraisal of the decision process, see Oppenheimer and Richie (in manuscript).

  3. Throughout this analysis, by “new” participants, we mean individuals who had not attended the initial policy science-based training workshops and/or had only attended a few of the subsequent meetings. “Existing” participants are those who had been a part of the GBDG for longer; they had attended the initial training workshops and/or numerous meetings. Given that the GBDG lasted several years and “new” participants eventually became “old,” these terms are dynamic and reflect the constant influx of new participants over the years.

  4. Although it went by several different names, in this analysis we refer to it as the Bow Valley Parkway Advisory Group, since that is what interviewees most commonly called it.

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Acknowledgments

We are greatly indebted to Mike Gibeau for his support, inspiration, and courage, both in helping us with and reviewing our project and spearheading the GBDG to begin with. The Berkley Conservation Scholars Fund and Williams Internships Fund allowed us to travel to and live in Banff for 3 months. We are extremely grateful to the GBDG participants and other interviewees for their time, patience, and thoughts. Denise Casey and three anonymous reviewers provided constructive and much appreciated feedback on the manuscript. We also thank Jason Wilmot, Lydia Dixon, and Rebecca Watters at the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, and Parks Canada, Colleen Campbell, David Mattson, Murray Rutherford, Emily Chamberlain, Felicity Edwards, Jutta Kölhi, Dave Cherney, Catherine Picard, and Peter Otis for their support and insights.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 301 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Lauren Richie & J. Daniel Oppenheimer

  2. Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Policy Sciences and Fellow, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, 301 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Susan G. Clark

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  1. Lauren Richie
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  2. J. Daniel Oppenheimer
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  3. Susan G. Clark
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Correspondence to Lauren Richie.

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Richie, L., Oppenheimer, J.D. & Clark, S.G. Social process in grizzly bear management: lessons for collaborative governance and natural resource policy. Policy Sci 45, 265–291 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-012-9160-z

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