In many countries over the last decades state initiatives have emerged to
promote and support public participation in policy-making. Despite the emphasis on
participation and deliberation, there are groups which remain outside the participatory
proceedings. We follow through two case studies from Finland on how active citizen
groups became excluded in the policy processes but decided to act nevertheless.
Conceptually the article tells two stories about multi-signification and improvisation in
nature conservation processes from the citizen participation point of view. Using
practice-oriented policy analysis we explore the actors' conflicting interpretations of
acting for “the sake of the lake”. We argue that in these kind of complex policy processes
improvisation should be given more space.