A Multiple Streams Analysis of Institutional Innovation in Forest Watershed Governance

Abstract

Increasingly severe wildfires have focused attention on forested watershed vulnerabilities, causing significant changes to policies and governance. We utilized the Multiple Streams Approach (MSA) to understand institutional innovations of federal agency-large water provider partnerships in Colorado to protect watersheds through joint planning and funding. Ambiguous problem definition and focusing events were significant aspects of these partnerships. We interviewed individuals in the partnerships, with MSA ideas of how solutions to policy problems develop, and the role of policy entrepreneurs. We found that wildfires served as focusing events, creating space and time for learning, collaboration and new problem framing, increased political attention, and institutional innovation. In this study, windows of opportunity stayed open longer, policy entrepreneurs and agencies played larger roles in communication and coupling streams and the context of fast-moving, unpredictable ecological crises changed responses to issues. Our findings also have implications for broader policy studies and environmental governance scholarship. KEY WORDS: disaster & risk management, governance, innovation, environment 一项关于森林流域治理中制度创新的多源流分析 日益严重的野火灾害已将关注聚焦于森林流域脆弱性，并引起政策和治理方面的显著变化。 我们使用多源流措施(MSA)，以期理解科罗拉多州联邦机构和大型供水商伙伴关系的制度 创新，该创新通过联合计划和资金提供来保护流域。模糊的问题定义和焦点事件曾是伙伴关 系的重要方面。我们就政策问题的解决措施如何发展、政策企业家发挥的作用等相关MSA观 点，采访了伙伴关系中的个人。作者发现，野火作为焦点事件，创造了用于学习、协作、新 问题构建的时空，提高了政治关注和制度创新。本研究中，机会之窗的开启时间更常，政策 企业家和政府机构在传播和源流耦合中发挥了更大的作用，发展迅速、无法预测的生态危机 背景改变了对问题的响应。研究发现对更广范围的政策研究和环境治理学术具有意义。 关键词: 灾害与风险管理, 治理, 创新, 环境 Un análisis de múltiples flujos de innovación institucional en la gobernanza de cuencas forestalesLos incendios forestales cada vez más tumbas han centrado la atención en las vulnerabilidades de las cuevas forestales, lo que ha provocado cambios peligrosos en las políticas y la gobernanza. Específicamente el Enfoque de múltiples corrientes (MSA) para comprender las innovaciones institucionales de las asociaciones de proveedores de agua de grandes agencias federales en Colorado para proteger las cuencas hidrográficas a través de la planificación y financiación conjuntas. La definición ambigua de problemas y los eventos de enfoque fueron aspectos específicos de estas asociaciones. Entrevistamos a personas en las alianzas, con ideas de MSA sobre cómo se resolverán las soluciones a los problemas de política y el papel de los emprendedores de políticas. Descubriendo que los incendios forestales sirvieron como eventos de enfoque, creando espacio y tiempo para el aprendizaje, la colaboración y la formulación de nuevos problemas, mayor atención política e innovación institucional. En este estudio, las ventanas de oportunidad permanecen abiertas por más tiempo, los emprendedores políticos y las agencias juegan un papel más importante en la

Systematic review of institutional innovation literature: towards a multi-level management model

“…Strategy (Ross 1989;Drew 1995;Brinckmann 1998;Hage and Hollingsworth 2000;Koh 2006;Wallman 2009;Cooke and Saini 2010;Kitagawa and Robertson 2011;Hung and Whittington 2011;Sartor and Beamish 2014;Villavicencio et al 2015;Smink et al 2015;Abramov et al 2019;Yang et al 2019; Yano and Shiraishi 2020) Institutional ownership (Hoskisson et al 2002;Yi et al 2017;Sakaki and Jory 2019) Participatory governance (Whitley 2000;Casper and Matraves 2003;Yoshikawa et al 2007;Rahman et al 2009;Genus 2012;Li et al 2012;Yi et al 2012;Clausen 2014;Zhang and Putzel 2016;Yang et al 2017;Elle 2017;Bekhet and Latif 2018;Yang 2018;Huber-Stearns et al 2019) Technology readiness, transfer, and support Technology skills, methods, and processes used to achieve institutional goals…”

Unlikely conservation policy making in a polarized Congress: A multiple streams analysis of “America's most successful conservation program”

“…This article contributes to a rich conversation on policy entrepreneurs' roles in environmental policy. Topics span decades of research and a wide range of subjects including the importance in scientific expert policy entrepreneurs in shaping water policy in the American West (Cortner, 2000;Crow, 2010); how NGOs act as policy entrepreneurs for ecosystem conservation in states that cannot adequately enact conservation measures (Hrabanski et al, 2013); how policy entrepreneurs garner attention and support bridge coalitions, and stimulate debate in water governance policy (Brouwer, 2015); how the professional affiliation of policy entrepreneurs (i.e., prominent figures or journalists) influence institutional development (Beem, 2007); how policy entrepreneurs catalyze large-scale change by framing problems in the context of climate policy (Mintrom & Luetjens, 2017); how disasters can lead to new collaborations and problem framing while also serving as focusing events or policy windows (Huber-Stearns et al, 2019); and how prominent policy entrepreneurs in U.S. national forests search for prominent issues to allow them to attach their preferred policy solution (Boscarino, 2009).…”

Disturbances as opportunities: Learning from disturbance‐response parallels in social and ecological systems to better adapt to climate change

“…Inertia exists in social systems as well. While ecological disturbances may act as ‘focusing events’ or ‘critical junctures’ if plans are laid ahead of time (Lindenmayer, Likens, & Franklin, 2010), governance institutions are typically slow to change, designed to create stability rather than adaptability, and shaped by historical pathways that limit future trajectories (Huber‐Stearns, Schultz, & Cheng, 2019; Ulibarri & Scott, 2019). There are myriad factors that further contribute to social inertia and limit adaptive change.…”

“…Collaborative partnerships around forest and watershed management also have undergone substantial changes as a result of lessons learned after large fires and subsequent flooding that caused dramatic problems for water quality and infrastructure. Huber‐Stearns et al (2019) found that watershed partnerships, which invest new sources of funding in forest restoration efforts, emerged as the result of a confluence of several factors: problem‐solving by high‐level policy actors (i.e. government leaders working with the US Forest Service) to engage water utilities in forest restoration on the Colorado Front Range; partners working through existing collaborative forums around forest management; and the focusing events of major fires that led to sedimentation and extensive damage to reservoirs.…”

“…Often the temporal mismatch between the pace of disturbance and the rate of governance change can be problematic because policy change can become more difficult and less relevant as the time from a disturbance event increases. Yet enduring collaborative coalitions, as were present on the Colorado Front Range, can maintain focus on solving long‐term challenges even years after a major event (Huber‐Stearns et al, 2019).…”