This dissertation examines the environmental discourse of the USDA Forest Service, focusing on the language of ecosystem management (EM). A two pronged approach was employed: eleven interviews were conducted with agency executives (chapter two); thirty-three interviews were conducted with agency staff specialists and decision-makers, working at the agency's operational levels (chapter three and four). Differences between how agency executives view EM and how agency operators view EM were identified. Chapter two shows that agency executives generally believed that the process of EM is ingrained in the agency. Chapter three explores this assertion at the forest and district levels, and reveals conflicting stories concerning the current practice of EM. Agency operators explained EM as a process driven by ecological science, but also revealed an alternate planning process. The alternate planning process is driven by the agency's budget and strict employee roles. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with agency operators, a model of how agency operators construct agency planning was created. It illustrates the potential mismatch between planning focused on ecological science and an agency focused on budgets, cost-benefit calculations, and strict employee roles. The model also shows that agency operators described active and passive publics in their constructions of agency planning. Chapter four focuses on these constructs of the public, and shows how they are partly created by agency interpretations of the public involvement processes required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In some cases, the agency applies a standard for public participation (substantive sieve) that requires publics to couch their concerns in scientific or legal terms. Publics that are able to navigate the substantive sieve are typically viewed as active publics, while those that cannot meet this standard are viewed as passive publics. A feedback mechanism was identified between constructs of the public and agency process; constructs of the public shape agency process and agency process shapes agency constructions of the public. The dissertation concludes by showing that agency focus on budgetary targets and the use of the substantive sieve can be understood as attempts to instill accountability into a decentralized agency with an ambiguous mission. / Ph. D.

This dissertation examines how the U.S. Forest Service implements and uses public involvement during the agency's planning processes as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. Focused from the perspective of the agency personnel leading the process, this study is informed by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Chapters two and three report the results of a web-based survey completed by 489 Forest Service employees. Chapter two shows that these employees most commonly view public involvement as a means for obtaining substantive information that could be used to improve the management decision. Chapter two also reveals that agency personnel who view public involvement as only a procedural requirement tend to achieve less positive process outcomes, but those who explicitly create opportunities for interactive dialogue with the public tend to achieve more positive outcomes, including more positive perceptions of the public involvement process and agency-public relationships. Chapter three shows that agency employees commonly believe more public influence should and does happen during the earlier stages of the planning process, but that agency employees also desire more public influence throughout the process. Chapter four uses qualitative interviews with 16 of the survey respondents to build upon the insights from chapter three. By exploring what may be constraining public influence from occurring at the desired levels, chapter four describes how agency personnel can impact how much public influence happens. The final chapter highlights the importance of looking beyond the specific public involvement technique employed during the process to the nature of the agency-public interactions. Agency personnel who are willing to engage in extra effort to translate public values into substantive management concerns generally achieve more desirable forms of public influence. They also help satisfy the public's desires to communicate their visions for the management of the National Forests. Key barriers include heavy workloads, negative views of the public, and over-reliance on minimum procedural requirements. Conversely, strong normative beliefs about the positive role of the public in agency planning, leadership commitment, and a recognition of the discretion afforded planning personnel can lead to higher levels of desired public influence. / Ph. D.

Profa. Dra. Vanessa Elias de Oliveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Planejamento e Gestão do Território, 2014. / Esta pesquisa apresenta um mapeamento das principais políticas públicas e das relações dos seus respectivos atores governamentais aplicadas às terras públicas federais no Litoral Norte de São Paulo. O objetivo é identificar os principais pontos de conflitos na gestão desses espaços e as dificuldades intersetoriais e intergovernamentais, bem como o entendimento sobre as escalas de poder. Frente a estas questões, a pesquisa elabora algumas hipóteses que podem contribuir para a compreensão das atuais formas de uso e ocupação do solo nos espaços litorâneos. / This research presents a mapping of the main public policies and relations of their respective governmental actors applied to federal public lands in the North Coast of São Paulo. The objective is to identify the main points of conflict in the management of these spaces and intersectoral and intergovernmental difficulties as well as the understanding of the scales of power. From these questions, the research draws some hypotheses that may contribute to the understanding of the current forms of use and occupation of land in the coastal areas.