An Examination of Public Participation Used in the Development of Watershed Management Plans in Ohio

by Steele, Jonathan C.

Watershed management is a form of environmental management that requires the use public participation while developing a management plan due to the nature of controlling various forms of nonpoint source pollution, a byproduct of human activities across the landscape. The research examines the role of public participation in Ohio watershed management. The primary research questions are related to examining how the public is being implemented into decision-making, how watershed coordinators are developing participatory techniques, and how watershed coordinators view the resources available to them. The research utilizes grounded theory, a qualitative research method, to answer the research questions through a set of interviews with six Ohio watershed coordinators. The findings explain how Ohio’s watershed management system currently leans more toward a technocratic rather than a democratic orientation.