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Freeing Agency Research from Policy Pressures: A Need and an Approach

The 29% of the area of the United States that is in public land contains a rich store of biotic and abiotic resources available to its owners, the American people. Deciding whether, how, and by whom these resources are to be used is the foremost challenge facing those who set public policy for natural resources. A number of land management agencies are vested with the responsibility of carrying out the prescriptions of public policy, and have, or had until recently, research arms charged with providing scientific information to enlighten policymaking and management. Ecologists understand very well that deciding whether and how public resources are to be used—that is, the process of setting public policy—is highly contentious because of the differing values attached to these resources by different subsets of American society. Those values commonly conflict, and resolution is not often mutually satisfactory. It is also not news to ecologists that the structure and function of biological resources, as well as the responses to their use and management, are among the most complex issues addressed by the field of ecology. Policy setting is most likely to be rational and socially optimal if this complexity is thoroughly elucidated by accurate and objective research. This is not to say that policies are set only on the basis of science. As Sabatier (1978) states, “No policy decision can be based solely on technical information. Normative elements invariably enter. ”B ut if not enlightened by quality research, policy is based on guess, hearsay, and traditional knowledge, and ultimately is determined by power politics. Thus, the research carried out to enlighten the policymaking process not only copes with the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by the complexity of its subject matter, but is commonly conducted in the contentious climate of policy disputes within which the agencies function. As a result, agency researchers often struggle to produce the accurate and objective research that is needed to fully enlighten the policy process and management. These efforts are often successful, as shown by a long history of distinguished research on many natural resources issues. Hence, I find extremely