Command-and-control regulation by single-function federal and state agencies has many limitations. In response, community-based environmental planning involving direct negotiations among governmental and private parties has become an increasingly popular strategy for resolving local environmental conflicts. This project seeks to ascertain: 1) whether consensus-based negotiations are more successful than conventional methods in designing and implementing specific management projects. 2) the relative ability of three theoretical frameworks-Elinor Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development Framework, the Advocacy Coalition Framework of Paul Sabatier and Hank Jenkins-Smith, and Robert Putnam's Social Capital Framework-in explaining the ability of watershed negotiations to reach and implement legally-binding agreements. The data base will involve personal interviews and surveys of participants in 60 watershed negotiations in California.
