JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION VOL. 38, NO. 2 AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION APRIL 2002 NEGOTIATING SCIENCE AND VALUES WITH STAI{EHOLDERS IN THE ILLINOIS RWER BASIN' Mark Meo, Will Focht, Lowell Caneday, Robert Lynch, Fekadu Moreda, Blake Pettus, Ed Sankowski, Zev Trachtenberg, Baxter Vieux, and Keith Willett2 ABSTRACT: Current research in the Illinois River Basin is designed to develop and test a policy formulation protocol that will foster watershed management policy that is fully legitimated (i.e., policy that is technically effective, economically efficient, adminis- tratively implementable, politically feasible, and socially accept- able). This paper describes the results of the initial baseline impact assessment that includes physical, biological, economic, legal, and social systems as well as the development of a watershed manage- ment decision support system that is used to integrate technical information and analyses, and to facilitate policy maker and stake- holder negotiation workshops. Numerically modeled and visually simulated environmental impacts serve as the basis for developing alternative policy maker scenarios for prospective watershed man- agement policies. These scenarios, which will be subjected to stake- holder review and negotiation, will undergo iterative review and amendment by policy makers and stakeholder groups to produce a recommended watershed management policy that satisfies all five substantive legitimation criteria. Preliminary results from the baseline social impact assessment indicate that fully legitimated policy is indeed obtainable. (KEY TERMS: decision support system; integrated impact assess- ment; watershed management; watershed modeling; policy negotia- tion; stakeholders; visualization.) INTRODUCTION The formulation and implementation of watershed management policy can be challenging under the best of circumstances. This is especially so when the context is fraught with urgency, controversy, uncer- tainty, distrust, and heightened public interest. Under these conditions, it is unlikely that policies formulat- ed solely by agency administrators and technical experts will find uncritical acceptance by those who perceive a stake in the outcome (National Research Council, 1999). Such is the case regarding the management of development impacts in the Illinois River Basin in northeastern Oklahoma. The river corridor is a popu- lar tourist and recreation attraction and was the first river designated as wild and scenic by the State of Oklahoma. Each year more than 180,000 persons float the Illinois River by canoe, raft, or kayak. An estimated 350,000 enjoy swimming, fishing, camping, hiking, birding, and hunting opportunities. The Illi- nois River provides drinking water for Tahlequah and Watts, irrigates farms and nurseries, and is a habitat for several state and federal threatened and endan- gered species (Bality et al., 1998). Though the econo- my is based primarily on tourism, a substantial amount derives from agriculture, especially from poultry farming and cattle ranching, and from plant nurseries, forestry, and gravel and limestone mining. The city of Tahlequah, which hosts Northeastern State University and the Cherokee Nation tribal gov- ernment, also helps anchor the regional economy (Bality et al., 1998). iPaper No. 01095 of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association. Discussions are open until December 1, 2002. 2Respectively, Professor, Science and Public Policy Program and the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd St., Room S-202, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; Professor, Department of Political Science, Oklahoma State Universi- ty, 519 Mathematical Sciences, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-1060; Professor, School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 106 Colvin Center, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-1060; Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, CHB413, 801 Northeast 13th, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73190; Postdoc, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd St., Room CEC 301C, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; Research Associate, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma, 830 Van Vleet Oval, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; Professors (Sankowski and Trachtenberg), Department of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma, 605 Dale Hall Tower, 455 West Lindsey St., Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2006; Professor, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd St., Room CEC 301C, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; and Professor, Department of Economics and Legal Studies, Oklahoma State University, 339 College of Business Administration, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-4011 (E-MailIMeo: mmeo@ou.edu). JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION 541 JAWRA