Attached is a piece I wrote that came out of my dissertation research on how the Forest Service handles cumulative effects analysis, particularly when it involves resources that see effects over long temporal and broad geographic scales. This article came out in Bioscience this month and is a short piece that focuses especially on the limitations of how we do the analysis for wildlife species. My intention was to look at the requirement and at current practice and provide a critical assessment of where/how it falls short, where it works, and what are impediments to and opportunities for improvement. I’d be interested to hear what you all think. Having worked as a PMF (Presidential Management Fellow) for the last year, a question that looms large for me and that I would like to have addressed more is: What could practitioners (from district to regional offices) do to improve analysis with the resources available? I touch on this to some extent, but I’d like to keep exploring it. I look forward to hearing any of your thoughts and feedback.
Courtney Schultz is currently a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Forest Service. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Montana in the College of Forestry and Conservation and this fall will begin work as an assistant professor of forest and natural resource policy at Colorado State University.