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Mediation support systems for facilitating resolution of natural resources conflicts must be able to systematically identify and use a full complement of data and value sets relevant to the spectrum of issues underlying the conflict, A stepwise computer-supported procedure for developing and then blending contrasting issue-sensitive stakeholder plans in map form for forest use is described and demonstrated. The goal is a balanced plan that efficiently satisfies the more important land-use guidelines of each stakeholder reasonably well. This procedure, SIRO-MED, can be applied at any level of detail compatible with available analytical resources and to resources other than forests.Public controversy over how the dwindling temperate hardwood forests of eastern Australia should be used is ongoing (Resource Assessment Commission 1991). The basic disagreement is over the relative extent to which forests should be allocated to productive uses based on some form of harvesting (intensive harvesting for pulpwood is currently particularly controversial) versus protective uses based on conservation and various lowintensity uses that minimally disturb the recreational and aesthetic and the natural functions (such as gene conservation, gas exchange, water quality maintenance) of forest areas.In recent conflicts, considerable dispute has centered on when knowledge of the biological resources of an area is adequate and on how the conservation value of these resources should be evaluated. The identification of boundaries around areas of conflict and of alternative areas for allocation to particular uses has also presented difficulties. These issues have in turn raised questions such as: (1) how to undertake effective inventories of biological resources at acceptable cost (e.g., Margules and Austin 1991);(2) what criteria can be used for conservation evaluation, which incorporate both ecological knowledge and community values; and (3) whether modern computer technologies such as geographic information systems and spatial decision support systems can, by integrating diverse information, assist with community decisions on land allocation in forests (e.g., Dean 1994).

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