Bioregional conflict resolution: Rebuilding community in watershed planning and organizing

Watershed-based planning has been held as a vanguard for integrated ecosystem management based on a collaborative process. Watershed managers, however, must contend with conflicts that run much deeper than interests for economic development versus sustaining ecosystem health. With data from a survey of members of watershed organizations, we characterize the valued-based conflicts that watershed managers are likely to face in planning. We propose that utilizing collaborative decision-making strategies is important, but successful long-term watershed planning requires rebuilding a community-based infrastructure that can support important social and bioregional networks and partnerships.