GEOGRAPHERS AND POLICY-MAKING: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FAILURE OF THE NEW JERSEY DUNE MANAGEMENT PLAN∗

∗ The Dune Management District delineation project was supported by a grant from the Division of Coastal Resources, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The principal investigators were Karl F. Nordstrom and Norbert P. Psuty of the Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies at Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey. The author would like to thank these individuals for their helpful commentary on this paper.

Abstract

The case of a New Jersey dune management plan demonstrates that geographers can initiate environmental policy by formulating and proposing meritorious plans. An evaluation of the plan's rejection shows the complexity of policy-making and indicates that failure to adopt useful plans may be due to distortion of information or misunderstanding of the original plan. In order to avoid failure, geographers should participate in the entire policy-making sequence and should encourage the participation of the public who will be affected by the plan.

Key words:

• policy-making
• shoreline management
• applied geomorphology

Notes

∗ The Dune Management District delineation project was supported by a grant from the Division of Coastal Resources, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The principal investigators were Karl F. Nordstrom and Norbert P. Psuty of the Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies at Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey. The author would like to thank these individuals for their helpful commentary on this paper.