Advancing Collaborative Solutions: Lessons from the Oregon Sage-Grouse Conservation Partnership (SageCon)

Between 2010-2015, a diverse group of individual and institutional partners worked together across 11 Western States to develop a strategy for protecting and restoring the habitat of the Western Sage-Grouse, and effort... [ view full abstract ]

Between 2010-2015, a diverse group of individual and institutional partners worked together across 11 Western States to develop a strategy for protecting and restoring the habitat of the Western Sage-Grouse, and effort prompted by the finding by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2010 that the Sage-grouse was a candidate for listing as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. However, in September 2015 the US Fish and Wildlife Service found that a listing was not warranted based on the commitment of federal and state agencies, local governments, landowners and others to implement on the ground conservation practices. An unprecedented level of collaboration between public and private sectors and across diverse physical and political landscapes was central to the success of this effort; there are high hopes that the framework for cooperation, coordination, and shared accountability will deliver positive results for both the species and affected communities. Many agencies involved in this process expressed interest in better understanding whether this collaborative approach could inform other contentious natural resource management issues. A team from Portland State University examined the development of the Oregon Sage-Grouse Action Plan to identify lessons useful for those seeking to foster similar collaborative strategies.  This presentation presents findings from this exploration, touching on the following questions: What role did individual and institutional leadership play in keeping people at the table and forging a shared outcome? How did the regulatory context - the prospect of a “listing” - shape this discussion? Does this effort offer any best practices applicable to other complex natural resource management issues? How might this effort align with and inform emerging “collaborative governance” theory and practice?