Deliberative-analytic framework to engage publics and stakeholders

Tenure changes and increased disturbance rates in interior BC are resulting in collaborative models of forest management through, for example, community forests with First Nations representation and, in the case of the QN Hub, the establishment of a forestry think tank initiative. As different adaptive forest management solutions are proposed, as well as silvicultural prescriptions examined, continual dialogue is required with forest professionals, community forest members, and QN think tank participants on their wider implications. Working with social scientists, a PhD student will have for objective to build and apply an analytic-deliberative framework to enhance dialogue around emerging forest plans and scenarios, in order to better understand the diversity of community and First Nations perspectives about acceptable solutions. Additional focus groups and interviews will delve further into the basis of inevitably diverse perspectives and preferred governance solutions that exist in BCs publicly-owned forests so as to generate locally-informed, scientifically sound, and institutionally realistic solutions. Outcome (AD.5a): A novel deliberative-analytic framework designed specifically to engage diverse publics and stakeholders, and identify the most acceptable pathways to implement adaptive silvicultural measures.

Dane Pedersen, PhD at University of British Columbia
Main Partner: FPInnovations
Professor: Shannon Hagerman