Red Lodge Clearinghouse - History of the Red Lodge Clearinghouse

History of the Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Through case studies, funding information, handbooks, news stories, and summaries of laws, the Red Lodge Clearinghouse supports, connects and informs the partners of collaborative initiatives and others addressing natural resource challenges in their community.

The Red Lodge Clearinghouse arose from recommendations made at the Workshop on Collaborative Resource Management in the Interior West held at Red Lodge, Montana on 18-22 October 2001.

The Red Lodge Workshop was convened by the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation to provide an interactive forum for collaborators — practitioners, policy-makers, elected officials, agency leaders and field staff, donors and conservationists — to better understand the realities of collaborative work in resource management where it happens, on the ground.

The workshop was held with the twin objectives of developing clear and practical recommendations to elected representatives who legislate resource policy and to the agencies that implement that policy, and of clarifying for practitioners the necessary requirements for effective collaborative work. It was a further objective to encourage a new awareness and spirit of participation that will facilitate seeking solutions to competing resource claims that have created a no-win state of gridlock in the Interior West.

The workshop participants approved a straightforward set of policy recommendations intended to position collaboration as the "preferred alternative" for resolving resource management issues involving multiple public and/or private sector stakeholders. The recommendations target three areas:

Increasing regulatory flexibility in implementation of environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forests Management Act, with an emphasis on "end results" rather than procedural requirements
Exploring experimental programs and pilot projects as alternative approaches for meeting the requirements of existing environmental laws.
Building place-specific capacity for collaborative resource management.

The participants identified training and capacity building as a major need that could significantly improve the effectiveness of many collaborative resource management efforts. Examples were cited where collaboration arose only to founder or to face unnecessary difficulties, delays, and challenges because the process was poorly designed, the right people were not included, the relevant information was not accessible, or the necessary resources were not available.

The Red Lodge Clearinghouse is managed by the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. The site is fully funded by the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation .

To access material from our old site, click here.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 April 2008 )