Innovation in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management: Insights from the Integration of Mule Deer Habitat Management and Oil and Gas Leasing

Bureau of Land Management;Mule Deer;Western U.S.;Natural Resources and Environment

Elliott, ClaytonYaffee, Steven ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Bureau of Land Management;    Mule Deer;    Western U.S.;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/77588/clayton%20elliott%20thesis.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for 256 million acres ofpublic land, mostly across the eleven Western states. The agency has been characterizedby close relationships with traditional clientele groups, shifting political support, andcontradictory interpretations of vague statutory guidance. This tightly controlledenvironment has often resisted innovation. However, managers of the public lands arefacing an increasingly complex agenda that will require innovation in resolving localconflicts. Emerging problems, like declining wildlife populations, are creating newopportunities for field offices to find innovative solutions.This thesis utilizes information generated from document and literature reviews, casestudies, and personal interviews to explore the research question, ;;What organizationalfactors appear to promote and constrain innovation in the management of resources atthe field office level in the BLM?” The BLM history reveals that the agency is a highlydecentralized and inherently political organization, and it suggests that major shifts inBLM organization and policy have most often occurred because of pressure from anorganized constituency that pushes for change and defends it politically. This thesisconcludes that innovation occurs when staff members recognize that there is a problemthat needs attention, feel that there is the political space to take risks in generating newalternatives, and find a diverse and politically-connected constituency that supportschange upstream. It also finds that the process by which the agency makes decisions hasimportant implications on bringing innovative ideas to the table, and it finds that thedemographic of the BLM employee is changing which is facilitating a shift towards newalternatives for the agency. To foster continued innovation, BLM managers should focuson building the collaborative capacity of their staff and the communities in which theywork, focus on engaging diverse stakeholders in the alternative generation process, andbe attentive to changing science.