Natural & Cultural Resources
Featured Cases:
The Challenge
Natural and cultural resources—including minerals, timber, fisheries, wilderness areas, soil, water, air, Tribal and cultural sites, practices, and materials—are measured across a host of values. Economic value, ecosystem services benefits, and values more difficult to quantify (including people’s sense of place, identity, culture, history, and morals) all must be considered. Yet people prioritize these values differently and sometimes disagree sharply about what’s right and good. How do we navigate the preservation of culture, history, and assets amid conflicting perspectives? What’s the proper balance between human use of natural resources and environmental harm? How do we clean up contaminated sites to protect public health, address long-term waste solutions, and find opportunities to make communities better in the face of legacy waste and contamination? How can people ensure protection of wildlife and natural habitats while also fostering economic development?
Our Approach
CBI mediators apply our proven consensus-building skills and frameworks to help natural and cultural resource managers:
- Gain the skills necessary to identify and involve crucial parties
- Engage and integrate multiple perspectives into planning and management decision-making
- Use sophisticated tools to consider and weigh risks, trade-offs, and uncertainties
- Explore contested views of history to come to the right decisions
- Negotiate and resolve conflicts among parties with different values and interests
From developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the Edwards Aquifer in greater San Antonio, Texas, to to formulating a management plan for the future of the historic Dune Shacks on the Cape Cod National Seashore, CBI has helped explore values, history, and options and generate actionable plans informed by robust technical analysis.
Areas of Expertise
- Natural resource management and planning
- Cultural resource management and planning
- Interpretation of natural and cultural resources
- Superfund cleanup
- Air quality and toxics management
- Wildlife, endangered species, and habitat conservation plans
- Natural resource damage assessment and valuation