Download or read book Willamette Basin Alternative Futures Analysis written by Joan Patterson Baker and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Alternative futures analysis is an environmental assessment approach for helping communities make decisions about land and water use. Its role is to provide a long-term, large-area perspective on the combined effects of the multiple policies and regulations affecting the quality of the environment and natural resources within a geographic area. The alternative futures process helps community members articulate and understand their different viewpoints, priorities, and goals. The product of the process is a suite of alternative 'visions' for the future expressed as maps of land use and land cover that reflect the likely outcomes of the options being advocated. Potential effects of these alternative futures are then evaluated for a wide array of ecological and socio-economic endpoints (i.e., things people care about). By capturing the essential elements of a complex debate in a fairly small number of alternative futures, and combining them with an objective evaluation of the consequences of each choice, this process can help groups move toward common understanding, and possible resolution and collective action. Here we summarize results from an alternative futures analysis conducted in the Willamette River Basin in western Oregon"--Page 1.