A Great Big Shout-Out for the Science Forum

Here’s a great big thank you to all the people who helped organize the Science Forum. We know that there was a great deal of work, planning, effort and all that. Seems to me that it went very smoothly and we got what we wanted- a knowledge of the science underpinnings on which a rule can be based. Thanks to the people who were there plus the people who work behind the scenes to make it all happen. You are, indeed, teaching the elephant to dance.

Also I wanted to thank Dave Iverson, who has been pushing the Forest Service for some time to consider some of the same ideas that were laid out by the scientists. I can’t count the number of times I said to the person next to me “hey, that book was in Dave’s post.” I know it can be frustrating when people don’t listen to you (happens to me all the time too) but a wise policy wonk told me in my policy OJT that getting your ideas into policy is all about continuing to be there until the stars line up and there’s an opening for them. Thanks for encouraging the elephant to dance, and your persistence.

Finally, thanks to John Rupe who took the time to write excellent summaries and put up the panelists’ biographies and is, in some respects, our interpreter so that people not at the meeting or on the webcast can better appreciate the elephant dancing.

Thanks also to the folks in the Deparment (at the risk of being seen to be brown-nosing) for removing some of the elephant’s chains and for being there to listen to all this great discussion.

And thanks to all the scientists and others who spoke and listened and reflected. I learned a lot, I’m sure as did others. You have greatly contributed to the management of our national forests.

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