ABSTRACT
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Region 7 staff has been involved in the science of, and stakeholder participation in, ecosystem conservation. In 2005, the US Department of Energy released “Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-ton Annual Supply”. USEPA witnessed that the celebration stories of the past provided a glimpse into the stakeholders’ values while creating a mechanism that bonded the group together. USEPA’s experiences working with stakeholders in the Midwestern United States, while developing the Future Midwestern Landscapes, have shown that in order to gain honest and useful dialog, Region 7 and Office of Research and Development had to embrace a facilitation methodology that incorporated positive approaches as well as an inherent desire to listen. In 1990, the stakeholders of the North American Great Plains talked about trust, values, and the reliance on each other. They spoke about valuing the natural environment and their rural lifestyles.
