III . B . 2 . Delphi Inquiries and Knowledge Utilization

The development of methods to obtain, refine, and communicate the informed judgments of knowledgeable people is one of the most crucial problems in planning and decisionmaking. The task is particularly challenging in the Michigan Sea Grant Program, which emphasizes a systems approach by a multidisciplinary group of researchers. Some of these researchers are experts in extremely specialized areas, representing a wide range of technical, economic, social, legal, and political disciplines. From its inception the general goal of the Michigan Sea Grant Program has been to provide the common management effort necessary to develop and bring to bear university expertise on short -and long-term resources management problems in the Great Lakes. The major approach of the program has been the development of basic information and predictive models for resolution of resource problems, followed by applications and/or demonstrations of such information and models to appropriate agencies and groups. Over 120 research and faculty personnel from practically every major school or college in the university are presently active in the program. Research and planning groups representing federal, state, and local government agencies, industry, and concerned citizen groups are also part of the problem-solving team. The Grand Traverse Bay watershed region was selected as the focus of pilot efforts to develop research and planning methodologies that will be applicable in dealing with problems and opportunities of all the Great Lakes, and in particular Lake Michigan. In the area of finding mechanisms to improve the coordination of the Sea Grant effort at the University of Michigan it was decided to investigate the potential for utilizing the Delphi technique. The Michigan Sea Grant Delphi inquiries 2 were designed to obtain and refine an interdisciplinary group of researchers' judgments about issues and developments that should be considered when planning for intelligent management of the water resources of the Great Lakes.