University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Environ Manage. 2020 Jul;66(1):91-104. doi: 10.1007/s00267-020-01278-5. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
In the United States, forest governance practices have utilized a variety of public participation mechanisms to improve decision-making and instill public legitimacy. However, comments, one of the most frequent and accessible avenues for the public to provide input, has received little attention. Further, there has been no analysis of the ways that government actors utilize this form of public participation in their decision-making. I empirically examine responses to public comments across the United States Forest Service to understand how they handle and deal with public feedback on forestry projects. I employed two qualitative approaches that examine comment handling processes and agency justifications for responding to comments. Through this empirical work, I found that agency employees utilize a range of strategies to handle and respond to public concerns. I present data suggestive that most public comments received are outside of agency personnel decision-making capacity and thus, personnel respond to comments in ways that deny their worth and block those concerns from project agenda setting. Understanding how the United States Forest Service thinks about and deals with public input will help forest managers and public commenters better negotiate efficacy in projects and decisions that affect forestland areas.
在美国，森林治理实践采用了多种公众参与机制，以改善决策并树立公众合法性。然而，评论作为公众提供意见的最常见和最便捷途径之一，却很少受到关注。此外，也没有分析政府行为者如何在决策中利用这种形式的公众参与。我通过实证研究来考察美国林务局对公众意见的回应，以了解他们如何处理和应对林业项目的公众反馈。我采用了两种定性方法，分别研究评论处理过程和机构回应评论的理由。通过这项实证工作，我发现机构员工采用了一系列策略来处理和回应公众关切。我提供的数据表明，大多数收到的公众意见超出了机构人员的决策能力范围，因此，人员以否定其价值和阻止这些关切纳入项目议程的方式来回应评论。了解美国林务局如何看待和处理公众意见，将有助于森林管理者和公众评论者更好地协商影响林地的项目和决策的效果。
