Policy Analysis Center for Western Public Lands:
Working together to protect our natural resources

The growing urban population in Idaho is placing pressure on some traditional agricultural uses of Idaho’s natural resources. It is likely that the long-term use and sustainability of these natural resources will be determined in part by public policy. A growing role of the College of Agriculture will be to provide scientific input on their cumulative economic, social, and ecological impacts. Such a role will not be easy and will require strong public and private partnerships among different interest groups, scientific disciplines, and universities. The recently established Policy Analysis Center for Western Public Lands may be a model for how such partnerships can be built.

The new center focuses on one of the major natural resources in the West: public lands. These include lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Idaho State Department of Lands. Idaho ranks fourth nationally in overall percentage of land that is publicly owned, with more than 70 percent in this category. Over the last century, these public lands have played a major role in supporting the livestock industry, but as the urban population has grown, the demand for use of the land for other purposes has increased.

In response to these concerns, the Policy Analysis Center for Western Public Lands was established and funded by the UI in cooperation with 14 other western land-grant universities and colleges. The mission of the center is to help rural communities, policy makers, resource managers and users, and others participate effectively in the public lands policy process. The center will utilize a governing board comprised of representatives from the universities, conservation groups, federal agencies, tribes, producer/commodity groups, and local governments to set the overall priorities for the center. The initial charge to the center will be to survey all groups as well as the general public to determine current priorities.

Once a project is chosen, the center will focus on developing and delivering objective, research-based information in a timely and efficient manner. The center will have the ability to integrate social, economic, and ecological impacts of proposed policies. Individually, the universities do not have the total resources needed for this task, but collectively they have the breadth of expertise to develop and deliver integrated information. The output of the center will be proactive policy education built upon staff papers ranging from short white papers to longer scientific articles. In addition, the center will provide collaborative education programs for interested rural communities and decision makers.

I believe that strong private-public, multi-university partnerships of this kind will be the key to resolution of several future problems and issues surrounding rural states such as Idaho. It is essential that we listen to our constituencies to identify major issues and concerns and then provide the scientific information and education needed to develop the solutions. And due to the complexity of the issues, we cannot do the work alone. We will collaborate with other universities, including public and private institutions throughout the world; disciplines both inside and outside of agriculture; and numerous public and private corporations and organizations. Together we will provide unbiased, research-based, objective information in a timely manner for informed decision making.