10.2190/30YR-PVG5-HCQJ-0N64 30YRPVG5HCQJ0N64 5 Citizen Participation in the York River Basin Study: The Use of The Value Trade-Off Questionnaire 243 252 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 30YRPVG5HCQJ0N64.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=30YRPVG5HCQJ0N64 3 Kevin John Phillips Roy F. Weston Effective environmental plans for a River Basin can only be accomplished by including the public in the planning process. Conventional public participation methods such as hearings cannot by themselves effectively be used as a screening tool, for they rarely represent a true cross-section of the Basin's population, and their results are often chaotic, confusing and difficult to interpret. A new tool for including the public's values was tested and implemented in the Virginia, York River Basin Study. A value trade-off questionnaire comprised of four questions was administered to a selected group of twenty-four citizens representing six different groups of people in the York River Basin. Each question addressed a different trade-off germain to the selection of the York River Basin Environmental plans. The result indicated a strong desire for environmental protection and the willingness to pay for that protection through curtailed economic development, if necessary. The questionnaire proved easy to administer, interpret, and provided a quantitative measure of peoples preferences necessary for effective implementable planning. Council on Environmental Quality, <i>Environmental Quality, The Second Annual Report</i>, August 1971. Council on Environmental Quality, <i>Environmental Quality, The Third Annual Report</i>, August 1972. Federal Register, 38:174, Part III, Monday, September 10, 1973. United States Environmental Protection Agency, <i>Guidance For Facilities Planning</i>, January 1974. L. A. Tinkham, The Public's Role in Decision Making for Federal Water Resource Development, Eighth Annual Water Resource Conference, 1971. A. Hahn, The Corps of Engineers and Citizen Participation in the Susquehanna River Basin, in <i>Social and Economics Aspects of Water Resources Development</i>, Dworsky, Allee and Csallory, (eds.). J. R. Finley, Participation in Water Resource Planning, in <i>Social and Economic Aspects of Water Resource Development</i>, Dworsky, Allee and Csallory, (eds.). F. H. Murdock, The Susquehanna Public Information and Participation Experiment, in <i>Social and Economic Aspects of Water Resource Development</i>, Dworsky, Allee and Csallory, (eds.). R. P. Sellevoid, Case Study: Public Involvement in Planning, in <i>Social and Economic Aspects of Water Resource Development</i>, Dworsky, Allee and Csallory, (eds.).