Ann Ball, Special Assistant to the Regional Director, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Marlene Rebori, Community Development Specialist, Western Area Loretta Singletary, Extension Educator, Central Area With a wide range of competing resource management goals for water, land, forest, and wildlife, community leaders and other citizens are increasingly involved in natural resource disputes. Managing Natural Resource Disputes is a fact sheet series that presents guidelines for approaching natural resource disputes collaboratively. This information will equip you with valuable knowledge to determine whether to participate, and if so, how to participate in collaborative processes involving natural resource disputes. Collaboration involves people with diverse interests working together to achieve mutually satisfying outcomes. Interests are what you care about, or want, in the dispute.
Collaboration is known by many names.
The goal of collaboration is to manage the dispute so that the outcome is more constructive than destructive. A destructive outcome results in harm and involves exploitation and coercion. A defining characteristic of collaboration is that decisions are made by consensus . Consensus does not mean unanimous consent, nor does it mean everyone's preferred option. Consensus means a decision that all can support.