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Northern River Basins Study Final Report
4.0 Study Board Recommendations
4.1 Introduction
In preparing its recommendations, the NRBS Board began by confirming
its shared vision that the northern river basins should be wisely managed
for the future. It was a vision that recognized the totality of the basins
as an ecological unit, where the standards and regulation of the use of the
waters are continually being challenged, where both the latest research and
monitoring are essential, and where the basin residents and stakeholders provide
an important resource. To reach its conclusions, the Board spent much time
preparing discussion papers, convening workshops, holding internal discussion
sessions and calling on advice from members of the public. It was not easy
to reach common agreement; the Board comprised very diverse but representative
interests, and divergent viewpoints frequently had to be reconciled. In the
end, large areas of common ground were developed.
The Board recommendations depended heavily on the basic and
applied research results brought to conclusion by the science component group
leaders. It took special note of findings about societal values and opinions.
As a result, the Board has prepared the following recommendations for which
much of the rationale is to be found in the project reports, synthesis reports,
proceedings of Board meetings and its discussions. Throughout the process,
the Board obtained input from the extensive program of public participation
and arranged a final round of community workshops immediately prior to the
completion of this report (see Section 6.0). The many contributions of basin
residents are gratefully acknowledged.
Except where otherwise noted, the Board's recommendations as
presented in this report have the substantial or unanimous support of the
Board members. In some instances, individual Board members who disagreed in
some way with a recommendation have chosen to have their dissent from the
majority position recorded in writing, to help the reader's perspective.
In taking a position on the Board's recommendations, Board
members were applying their best judgement and acting in their individual
right as Board members. Their positions on the Board's recommendations do
not necessarily indicate support or lack thereof on the part of the organizations
from which Board members were drawn.
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