Changing Expectations for Science and Scientists in Natural Resource and Environmental Policy
Science plays an important role in environmental policy since it not only helps to identify potential environmental problems, but also informs potential solutions to those problems. Therefore, many policy makers, interest groups, resource managers and interested citizens have called for a more science-based environmental policy. This study replicates a previous Pacific Northwest case study where we examined attitudes of scientists, natural resource managers, interest groups, and the public concerning the role of science and scientists in the environmental policy process. In a series of 2006-07 interviews and surveys with national samples of these four groups, we find that there are significant differences about what constitutes science, including the acceptability of positivism; a preference among many interest groups and citizens for research scientists to work closely with managers to interpret and integrate scientific findings into management decisions; and, for those respondents with positivist orientations, some interest in scientific advocacy and decision-making by ecological scientists. We also found that ecological scientists and managers were less supportive of active roles for scientists in the environmental policy process.
Keywords: Science Policy, Positivism, Post-Normal Science, Environmental Policy
Prof. Brent S. Steel
Professor, Political Science, Oregon State University
Prof. Denise Lach
Professor, Sociology, Oregon State University