Evaluating the effectiveness of stakeholder advisory committee participation in forest management planning in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The study evaluates the success of Ontario's forest SACs (Local Citizens Committees), including public involvement in open houses for forest management planning using a content analysis of third party audits. Evaluations are discussed in terms of five established components of success: conflict resolution among competing interests, building of trust in institutions, incorporating public values into decisions, improving the substantive quality of decisions and informing and educating the public. Also discussed are the four established process components that facilitate success: responsiveness of the lead agency, motivation of participants, quality of deliberation among participants, and degree of public control over the process. The study has four findings. First, audits did not explicitly address components, were inconsistent, and lacked comprehensiveness, reporting on all four evaluative components that facilitate success but only four of five evaluative components of success. Consequently, our ability to determine overall success was highly constrained. Second, despite the constraints, given three of five outcome components were either not achieved, undermined or limited, and that a fourth was mixed, it appears that effectiveness of LCCs during the study period reflects more failure than success. Third, the component most associated with facilitating success, responsiveness of the lead agency, was generally high. Fourth, the key lesson is that the inability to re-frame citizens as integral participants in civic discourse may have been the weakest point in supporting the strong democracy so critical for deliberation between agencies and citizens.