Ecological Planning Method - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 242

and ecologists from the Staatsbosbeheer (Dutch Forest Service) work with citizen
environmental action groups. For agriculture, local extension agents and soil scientists
work with farm commodity organizations and farmer cooperatives. Similar coalitions
are formed for recreation and urbanization. What John Friedmann 45 calls a dialogue
process begins at the point where each of the individual schemes is constructed. The
groups come together for mutual learning so that a consensus of opinion is reached
through debate and discussion.
Various options for implementation also need to be explored, which must relate to the
goal of the planning effort. If, for example, the planning is being conducted for a juris-
diction trying to protect its agricultural land resources, then it is necessary not only to
identify lands that should be protected but also the implementation options that might be
employed to achieve the farmland protection goal.
13.2.7 Step 7: Landscape Plan
The preferred concepts and options are brought together in a landscape plan. The plan
gives a strategy for development at the local scale. The plan provides flexible guidelines
for policymakers, land managers, and land users about how to conserve, rehabilitate, or
develop an area. In such a plan, enough freedom should be left so that local officials and
land users can adjust their practices to new economic demands or social changes.
This step represents a key decision-making point in the planning process. Responsible
officials, such as county commissioners or city council members, are often required by law
to adopt a plan. The rules for adoption and forms that the plans may take vary widely.
Commonly, in the United States, planning commissions recommend a plan for adoption
to the legislative body after a series of public hearings. Such plans are called comprehen-
sive plans in much of the United States, general plans in Arizona, California, and Utah. In
some states like Oregon, there are specific, detailed elements that local governments are
required to include in such plans. Other states permit much flexibility to local officials for
the contents of these plans. On public lands, various federal agencies, including the USFS,
the U.S. National Park Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, have specific
statutory requirement for land management plans.
The term landscape plan is used here to emphasize that such plans should incorporate
natural and social considerations. A landscape plan is more than a land-use plan because
it addresses the overlap and integration of land uses. A landscape plan may involve the
formal recognition of previous elements in the planning process, such as the adoption of
policy goals. The plan should include both written statements about policies and imple-
mentation strategies as well as a map showing the spatial organization of the landscape.
13.2.8 Step 8: Continued Citizen Involvement and Community Education
In step 8, the plan is explained to the affected public through education and information
dissemination. Actually, such interaction occurs throughout the planning process, begin-
ning with the identification of issues. Public involvement is especially crucial as the land-
scape plan is developed, because it is important to ensure that the goals established by the
community will be achieved in the plan.
The success of a plan depends largely on how much people affected by the plan have been
involved in its determination. There are numerous examples of both government agencies
and private businesses suddenly announcing a plan for a project that will dramatically
impact people without consulting those individuals first. The result is predictable—the