The current structure of environmental management in the United States allows the public few avenues for making meaningful inputs to environmental management decisions even though they express high levels of concern about the environment, especially locally. Volunteer environmental monitoring bridges the gap between science/technology-based environmental management and public involvement in environmental decision-making. It may also reinforce public confidence in science-based decision-making by directly involving the public in generating data used in environmental management. Volunteer monitoring offers one means for increasing more direct human/environment interaction. For at least the past 15 years in many parts of the world, there has been increasing interest in more participatory environmental management approaches, and this tendency has been especially important in American water resources management.
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