Role of public involvement in the limits of acceptable change wilderness planning system

Abstract

Implementation of the LAC within politicized contexts requires that managers/planners involve the public in ways significantly different from the traditional rational-comprehensive paradigm of natural resource planning. In politicized contexts, the lack of clear agreement about goals and disagreement among scientists about cause-effect relationships requires planning to be collaborative and learning oriented. LAC makes the value-laden nature of protected area management decisions explicit; involving the public ensures that the variety of values involved are revealed. Transactive planning is an approach, based on dialogue and mutual learning, that provides an effective framework for developing LAC-based plans.