Red deer at a crossroads—An analysis of communication strategies concerning wildlife management in the ‘Bayerischer Wald’ National Park, Germany

Participation has been widely discussed in the literature over the last decade. When it comes to protected area management, participation is mostly seen as an appropriate, if not even necessary, method for integrating the ecological as well as socio-economical dimensions of nature conservation and to achieve acceptance of management objectives. However, despite the apparent effort made by governmental agencies to expand the integration of affected stakeholders in decision making-processes in Germany, one cannot but recognise that these efforts repeatedly do not achieve the expected results. Affected stakeholders may refuse to take part in the participation process and conflicts may arise.This paper reveals possible explanations for this gap between expectations and outcomes by analysing a participation process in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. The study uses a conflict-oriented approach, focusing on the actors involved, their perceptions, relations, and (inter)actions. The analysis shows that the actors’ behaviour may not be so much determined by their interests but rather by other factors such as communicational and relational structures. On this basis, the article discusses the adequacy of different participatory methods depending on the conflict situation at hand and identifies approaches for managing these.