Consensus Building for Defining and Prioritizing Restoration Science and
Restoration Project Needs in Southwest Florida.
Heather Rein
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft Myers, FL
Mike Bauer
Audubon of Florida, Ft Myers, FL
Consensus building is a decision-making process that arose in response to
problems in the areas of business, government, labor, and the environment. In
contrast to the “one party wins, one party loses” theory of litigation, consensus
building brings parties together to define issues in terms that require joint problem
solving, by sharing information and responsibility. Parties combine resources to
solve problems that may be intractable individually. When consensus is
successful, the parties have reached solutions by clarifying their core values,
sharing information, and establishing trust.
The use of consensus building in environmental planning and management has
increased over recent years in Southwest Florida. Agencies and multi-agency
groups like the Watershed Council, Lee County Smart Growth Management, and
Charlotte Harbor NEP, have incorporated consensus-based decision-making into
their mission statements. The Southwest Florida Regional Restoration
Coordination Team, a regionally approved multi-agency group reporting to the
South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Working Group, employs
consensus-building techniques at their meetings and in their science and
restoration plans.
The incorporation of consensus building was instrumental in the review and
completion of the Big Cypress Basin – Estero Bay Regional Science Plan. A draft
of the science plan has existed in various forms since 1997. Six workshops were
held between 1997 and 2000 to develop science plan projects that would identify,
through consensus, priority research, monitoring, and coordination needs for the
region. In November 2001 when the Big Cypress Basin - Estero Bay RCT began
its operation, one of the principal objectives of the RCT was to finalize the
Regional Science Plan. This required editing the projects contained within the
Plan; prioritizing those projects; and finally seeking peer review of the plan’s
contents by the Working Group’s Science Coordination Team. A draft regional
science plan for the Big Cypress Basin - Estero Bay region was recently
completed following a three-year collaborative partnership of local agencies and
organizations. The plan identifies specific recommendations for regional
restoration research and monitoring activities, and promotes the concept of a longterm, sustainable research coordination effort linked to restoration within the
Basin. Due to the success of this effort the Charlotte Harbor - Caloosahatchee
RCT has undertaken a similar effort, using the Big Cypress Basin – Estero Bay’s
RCT process as a guideline for the development of their plan.
Similar efforts are now underway by both the Big Cypress Basin – Estero Bay and
Charlotte Harbor – Caloosahatchee Restoration Coordination Teams to identify
and prioritize restoration project needs within their respective subregions. These
efforts are being used to garner support for restoration problems of more regional
significance from local agencies or are being recommended for Working Group
endorsement when the restoration problem is of system-wide significance.
Mike Bauer, Audubon of Florida, 10501 FGCU Blvd South, Ft Myers, FL, 339656565, Phone: 239-590-7213, Fax: 239-590-7200, bauer606@aol.com
Heather Rein, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd South, Ft Myers,
FL 33965-6565, Phone: 239-590-7215, Fax: 239-590-7200, hrein@fgcu.edu