An application of social choice theory to U.S.D.A. forest service decision making

Abstract To meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service has changed the way forest plans are developed. The focus of this paper is to address the group-decision problem using social choice theory, specifically the voting models of Condorcet and Borda. The elements of a social choice problem are voters, alternatives, preferences, and aggregation. A case study from the Shoshone National Forest is used to demonstrate the use of the voting models from social choice theory. The solutions derived from the analysis are strategy and coalitional strategy proof implying that behaviors intended to influence the outcome, such as vote trading, would be unsuccessful.