How thick should a management plan be? To be sure, there are some thick plans out there heavy enough for use as a door stop. Seriously, a management plan is as thick as it needs to be based upon near term (10-15 years) management needs, legal and regulatory complexity, the environmental setting of the protected area, social and economic issues, resources at the disposal of the team developing the plan, and other factors. In wealthy nations such as the USA, there are abundant resources to develop detailed management plans, a Cadillac version if you will. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and other land management agencies in the USA have hundreds of management plans online and they continue to develop new management plans. A perusal of such plans should benefit anyone in the Pacific contemplating a management plan for a protected area.
