The Etowah Habitat Conservation Plan outreach program: a social networks based approach to public participation and stakeholder involvement
Author(s)
Gervich, Curt
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Hatcher, Kathryn J.
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Abstract
This paper and presentation describe the
unique outreach and public participation program
supplementing the development of the Etowah Habitat
Conservation Plan (HCP)—a planning effort involving the
local governments drained by the Etowah river and several
regional, state and national ecological research and
resource management agencies including the University of
Georgia, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia
Conservancy and Upper Etowah River Alliance. The
HCP outreach program uses a social networks based
approach towards gathering input and community
involvement by focusing on the structural and
interactional criteria of community social networks
(Stokowski, 1994). That is, by focusing on network
linkages among community members, and the roles that
community members play in social networks, the HCP
outreach program and planning process become local
movements created, driven and supported by community
members, rather than simply programs created by
outsiders, in which local residents participate in but do not
create or design. This talk and paper address the
theoretical basis for using a networks based approach
towards outreach, as well as the components and
objectives of outreach program itself and the HCP
advisory committee’s developing plans to document and
evaluate the success of the outreach program.
Sponsor
Sponsored by:
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute
The University of Georgia, Water Resources Faculty
Date
2005-04
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Proceedings