PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 4: Forest Management
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 514 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Transmitting and translating scientific information in state agencies: acid deposition policy in New York and Vermont.

DeLano, Stephanie^*,1, Ginger, Clare¹, ¹ University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

ABSTRACT- This study examines the science-policy nexus at the state level in three environmental media settings (air, water, forests) with respect to a single issue - acid deposition. In an increasingly decentralized system, state agencies bear escalating responsibilities for environmental decisions. These agencies are often divided by environmental media, yet acid deposition is an issue that reaches across media in its causes and effects. This study asks: How do personnel in state agencies translate scientific information across organizational boundaries to define and make policy decisions? 18 interviews conducted with New York and Vermont personnel in each of the study's environmental media foci (air, water, forests), provided primary data. Additional data were gathered from reports, rules, and other materials from the interviewees' agencies. A computer text-processing program was used to organize data using themes from organizational theory and environmental policy literature and that emerged from the interviews. Themes included concern about the relationship between monitoring data and policy development, intergovernmental influence, and policy goals. Preliminary results emphasize the importance of communication networks for transmitting monitoring data and trend analysis between divisions within agencies and to policy makers outside the agencies. In addition, each state has distinct ways of transferring data within agencies. New York has a program to monitor lake response to acid deposition located within its Air Division. This allows for integration of air and water trend data in Air Division rulemaking. At the same time, a relatively small bureaucracy in Vermont allows for informal person-to-person exchanges that defy agency boundaries. Differences between state and federal funding priorities for research were seen as a barrier to providing policy-relevant research. Results also suggest an expanded role for regional organizations as arenas for state personnel to exchange ideas, analyze research, and contribute to state policy.

Key words: acid deposition policy, science-policy nexus, forest health