ABSTRACT
A major roadblock to improved decision-making in the past has been an inability or unwillingness to integrate them beyond making experts in each field a part of an interdisciplinary planning team. The complexity associated with natural resource planning need not inhibit management actions. Indeed, complexity can actually serve a vital and positive role in land use planning. In response to the new legislation, particularly the requirements for environmental impact analysis under National Environmental Policy Act, the 1970s witnessed a literal explosion of planning and project evaluation models. Rational land use planning and decision-making requires a target or goal specific enough to allow for quantitative or qualitative measurement of success in moving toward it. Stability in the decision-making environment is achieved by allowing all interest groups to have input into the evaluation process. Public support allows stability in decision-making processes which in turn permits complexity in land use planning and analysis of alternatives.
