Collaborative Management: Solutions to Conflicts Over Federal Lands

The above examples indicate how interactions between federal land managers and private property owners, recreation groups and local communities can be contentious. But there are many examples of successful collaborative management efforts helping to smooth over similar disputes, both in Michigan and elsewhere. They can help groups that are often at odds to reduce conflicts and find solutions that work for everyone. These examples could provide a framework for similar efforts in Michigan’s national forests.

While these examples are not silver bullets, they do offer a suite of possible solutions. The central theme running through each of these situations is that they take time and require both sacrifice and a degree of personal effort on the part of each stakeholder or participant. They will likely fail without a serious commitment from each of the parties.