Science Advocacy Is Inevitable: Deal with It

Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters, 1996

SUNY Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1996-100

16 Pages Posted: 7 Aug 2014

See all articles by Margaret A Shannon

Margaret A Shannon

University of Vermont - Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Errol Meidinger

University at Buffalo Law School; University of Freiburg

Roger Clark

Government of the United States of America - US Forest Service

Date Written: 1996

Abstract

The Forest Service has sought to address the increasingly contentious relationship of scientific research and analysis to its policy and management activities. This paper draws on an extensive literature review and ten case studies of science-intensive policy processes to address the appropriateness of Forest Service policies for science/policy interaction. Its findings directly challenge a number of the assumptions embedded in those policies The paper both clarifies the management and policy context in which the work of scientists has become increasingly controversial, and details the ways in which scientific work is a form of advocacy. The appropriate response to the inevitability of scientific advocacy requires scientists, managers, and society to negotiate a changed set of expectations for science that would align with the reality of modern scientific practice.

Keywords: Advocacy, Forest Service, Federal Forest Policy, Policy Process, Science Advocacy, Society of American Foresters, Management, Agency Analysis

Suggested Citation

Shannon, Margaret A and Meidinger, Errol and Clark, Roger, Science Advocacy Is Inevitable: Deal with It (1996). Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters, 1996, SUNY Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1996-100, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2477062

Margaret A Shannon

University of Vermont - Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources ( email )

United States
802 656 4280 (Phone)
802 656 8683 (Fax)

Errol Meidinger (Contact Author)

University at Buffalo Law School ( email )

PO Box 288
Clinton, MT 59825-0288
United States
716-536-4521 (Phone)

University of Freiburg ( email )

Tennebacher Str. 4
Freiburg, 79106
Germany

Roger Clark

Government of the United States of America - US Forest Service ( email )

United States

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