Salmon and Cattle Coexistence in Oregon Estuaries: Partner Assessments of Elinor Ostrom’s Governance Scheme

Various natural and human factors have adversely affected watersheds and estuaries, harming both ecosystems and economies. Unions of diverse partners address these negative impacts through conservation and restoration actions, often with negligible government influence. This research is a case study of partner governance pertaining to how seven participating alliances developed a project to improve damaged wetlands and farmlands, to benefit juvenile salmon and cattle. Their project took place in the Winter Lake area of the Coquille estuary of Oregon. Elinor Ostrom, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, identified global cases in which successful non-state partner governance of common-pool resources existed. After being educated on Ostrom’s core design principles, the seven project collaborators judged whether Ostrom’s governance framework existed within their partnership. The purpose of this study was to allow core collaborators to analyze the presence or absence of each design principles and to reflect on whether their partnership had a de facto governance framework. While none of the partners was initially aware of Ostrom’s work, they acknowledged and elaborated on how parts of her governance framework existed within the project, but also questioned whether some elements of successful governance of a commons were missing. This case study expands the research on commons governance by prompting interviewees to offer and evaluate their own perceptions of successful governance of the commons, offering new and varied experiences about its management.