Citizen Monitoring and Local Land Use Decisions

Dreux J. WatermolenWisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Presentation Outline

Citizen Monitoring and Local Planning

Important ConsiderationsWhat You Can DoConclusions

Presentation Outline

Citizen Monitoring and Local Planning

Important ConsiderationsWhat You Can DoConclusions

Local Planning

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

June 14, 2005

Visioning

Implementation

Alternative Selection

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Steps in the planning process

Local Planning

Visioning

Implementation

Alternative Selection

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Local Planning

Citizen monitoring data can:• Help define community values.• Help prioritize places for protection

or attention.• Identify interest sectors to include

in the planning process.

Visioning

Implementation

Alternative Selection

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Local Planning

Citizen monitoring data can be used to:• Help prioritize places for protection.• Identify areas in need of attention.• Elucidate gaps in knowledge.

Visioning

Implementation

Alternative Selection

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Local Planning

Citizen monitoring data can:• Help identify problem

statements.• Help prioritize resources.• Help calibrate/validate

predictive models.

Visioning

Implementation

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Alternative Selection

Local Planning

Plan implementation tools:• Zoning decisions• Lake classification efforts• Tree ordinances• Construction site

erosion control

Visioning

Implementation

Inventory

Updating

Analysis

Alternative Selection

Local Planning

Citizen monitoring can be used to: • track plan implementation.• identify levels of success.

Presentation Outline

Citizen Monitoring and Local Planning

Important ConsiderationsWhat You Can DoConclusions

Considerations

Local government decisions cannot be arbitrary or capricious.

Local government decisions should be based on available data/information.

Bird watching and other phenological observations are useful monitoring data if they are written down/ recorded in a timely manner.

Considerations

Considerations

Monitoring data do not result from random, isolated, one-time events.

Monitoring observations should be gathered in a structured, recurring manner.

Presentation Outline

Citizen Monitoring and Local Planning

Important ConsiderationsWhat You Can DoConclusions

What you can do:

Share your monitoring data.

What you can do:

“Publish” your monitoring data. Summaries Booklets Reports Web sites Newsletters

What you can do:

Keep a copy of your raw monitoring data, even after publication/sharing.

Keep documentation of methods used.

Presentation Outline

Citizen Monitoring and Local Planning

Important ConsiderationsWhat You Can DoConclusions

Conclusions

Citizen monitoring data can inform local planning and decision-making processes.

Quality control and quality assurance measures increase the value of citizen monitoring data for local decision making.

Conclusions

Local governments can make greater use of citizen monitoring data in their planning and decision making processes.

Thank you!

Questions?