Democratizing Science, Management, and Public Policy in the Missouri River Ecosystem: A Pilot Study of Agricultural Producers' Amenability to Adaptive and Collaborative Management

Authors

Meghan Sittler

Date of this Version

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Sittler, Meghan. 2003. Democratizing Science, Management, and Public Policy in the Missouri River Ecosystem: A Pilot Study of Agricultural Producers' Amenability to Adaptive and Collaborative Management (M.S. Thesis, University of Nebraska - Lincoln). pp. 50

Comments

TD-330

Abstract

Agricultural stakeholder involvement is central to the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) National Research Council (NRC)(2002) recommendation for development and implementation of adaptive, ecosystem management principles, as well as the definition of a new management regime for the Missouri River. This document represents a pilot study of fifteen agricultural producers in three counties, Atchison County, Missouri, Fremont County, Iowa, and Otoe County, Nebraska, who were contacted via telephone and completed structured interviews. The interview questions centered upon the producers' relationship to the river, perceptions of the current management of the river, and willingness to support and participate in a proposed collaborative management organization as part of ecosystem and adaptive management policies. The results of the interviews indicate that there is a basis for increased citizen involvement, the development of a collaborative stakeholder organization, and the implementation of adaptive ecosystem management principles. Recommendations for the structure of a collaborative organization are made as well recommendations for future study of agricultural stakeholder amenability to the implementation of the NRC's (2002) recommendation for the restoration of the Missouri River Ecosystem through adaptive collaborative ecosystem management policies.