Many scholars note the increasing desire of the public to be involved
in the policy process. Others observe, however, that public participation
in governance is declining. One possible explanation for this is that
people do not know the technical and scientific language that is
frequently used in these decision processes. Citizens simply lack the
information to participate in a meaningful way. This is what is known as
the “technical information quandary” (i.e., how citizen
desires for increased participation can be balanced against the
increasingly technical nature of public policy). Research on public
participation suggests membership in voluntary associations or
organizations is positively associated with higher levels of technical
policy knowledge. Recreation management on the Colorado Plateau provides
an excellent opportunity to examine the relationship between membership in
voluntary organizations and the level of policy knowledge. In 1998, we
surveyed the public living on the Colorado Plateau to ascertain their
level of knowledge of technical terms and their level of participation in
voluntary organizations. We found that a variety of factors were related
to people's membership in these organizations. In particular, our
findings indicate that those with higher levels of knowledge were
significantly more likely to be members of voluntary organizations and
that this knowledge was most likely to come from the organizations. These
findings have important implications for environmental managers, as well
as for the voluntary organizations themselves.