Bringing Society Back in ─ Grassroots Ecosystem Management, Accountability, and Sustainable Communities

In the last two decades, people in a growing number of localities in the UnitedStates have developed grassroots ecosystem management (GREM) as a means to resolve policy problemsaffecting their environment, economy, and communities. Ad hoc and voluntary groups ofenvironmentalists, developers, businesspeople, federal and state resource managers, farmers,loggers, local citizens, and those representing recreation interests use deliberation and consensusto enhance public policy performance. Instead of focusing on specific issues such as air pollution,GREM emphasizes the integrated management of entire watersheds and ecosystems. But what happens todemocratic accountability in these collaborative efforts? Despite concerns that they might result inspecial interest government, the acceleration of environmental degradation, and an end-run aroundnational environmental protection laws, this book suggests otherwise.Bringing Society Back Inestablishes a theoretical framework for exploring issues of policy performance and democraticaccountability raised by GREM. Through three case studies--the Applegate Partnership in Oregon, theHenry's Fork Watershed Council in Idaho, and the Willapa Alliance in Washington state--it exploresthe mechanisms used to determine how accountability works. The book finds that by combiningtraditional and formal governance structures with informal institutions, GREM can be accountable toindividuals, communities, surrounding regions, and the nation. The book also identifies conditionsunder which GREM is most likely to achieve democratic accountability. In addition, it investigatesthe connection between accountability and policy performance. The evidence suggests that GREM canproduce environmental policy outcomes that are supportive not only of the environment and economy,but also of environmental sustainability.

Edward P. Weber is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University. He is the author of Pluralism by the Rules: Conflict and Cooperation in Environmental Regulation.