Understanding the context of knowledge and values in natural resources decision-making: A case study of Parks Canada's Recreational Activities Assessment Framework

The range of natural, societal and nature-human interactions of contemporary environmental management, especially for parks and protected areas, is seemingly infinite and is continually changing in scope and complexity. Although natural processes are a significant consideration toward environmental management, the field is wrought with social issues and value-based decisions being made. The development of a new Recreational Activities Assessment Framework (RAAF) by Parks Canada provided a unique opportunity to examine a formal planning process in the field of protected areas management with a working group comprised of a diverse group of agency, academic and non-governmental participants.;The exploration of differing knowledge claims within the decision-making process is presented in order to explore the role of expertise and the importance of the knowledge discourse between expert knowledge and lay knowledge.;The valuation of parks and protected areas further acknowledges that the desired outcomes of management decisions are essentially subjective in nature. Recognizing this understanding, it may be proposed that there is a variety of values that go into making such subjective determinations and that they may be generalized into two categories: non-preference-related values and preference-related values. These values help us to shape what we want and expect parks and protected areas to be and to provide.;The new RAAF is considered a tool to augment existing park and protected area management and systems planning processes. The principles of the framework are built on the premise that there will be a level of consistency across the system of parks and protected areas yet decisions are relevant to the local conditions and settings.