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Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

CFAES

Community Collaboration in Farmland Preservation: How Local Advisory Groups Plan

Community-based environmental management, also known as collaborative environmental management, aims to shift decision-making from government officials to citizens and stakeholders. Recently, scholars and practitioners have focused a great deal of attention on such efforts, particularly in the context of watershed management planning and ecosystem management. While increased stakeholder and community participation may lead to a more empowered, committed citizenry and greater environmental protection, its policy implications are not well understood. To date, scant research has focused on understanding how participants without binding legal authority arrive at specific policy recommendations, what those recommendations contain, and what impact they have. This study aims to provide such understanding, by focusing on efforts by several different community-based advisory task forces to develop farmland preservation plans in Ohio. Analysis of plan documents, combined with task force member interviews, reveal patterns of decision-making processes and policy recommendations.

Publication type: 
Policy brief
Date published: 
Wednesday, November 1, 2000