The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
Community Sourced, Shared and Supported
In the early 1990s a few of us — Hanna Cortner, Maggie Shannon, Larry Davis and a couple of us in the Intermountain Region — nudged the Forest Service toward an approach we called “Building Public Decisions”. Today we might call such adaptive co-management or collaborative stewardship, or ??. In 1993 I ran a little … Read more
Whether we are talking about planning, assessments, monitoring, or any other managerial function it is good practice to also talk about what I like to call the “p” words, psychology and politics. Here is a little tidbit I’ve been thinking about again recently. How often do we resort to blaming others for our own problems/failings? … Read more
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (center) expresses his appreciation for being given the opportunity to tour and learn more about Arizona’s groundbreaking effort to restore forest health and protect fire-threatened communities. Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (left) and various local and forest officials accompanied Vilsack on the tour. Please see story on Four Forests Initiative in … Read more
Here I suggested we meet back here in a week after we had time to read the report of the Forest Options Group. I’m glad that Andy brought this paper to our attention. Many of the problems are still as relevant today as they were in 1997. Not really about planning but interesting to me.. … Read more
Jim Burchfield January 18, 2009 If genuine, deliberative collaborative processes become an inviolate principle in the development and implementation of a new generation of National Forest plans, then the geographic scale of planning becomes one of the most important early decisions in the establishment of planning rules. I will argue that a vital, but not … Read more
Some of these comments sounded worthy of discussion. I was intrigued by the concept that somehow collaboration avoids NEPA and other legal requirements. I guess I was having trouble imagining collaborating at any level on anything that ultimately results in decisions that violate legal requirements- because the legal nexus is the decision. Can someone help … Read more
“Forest planning has been hijacked by a generation of planners who turned what should have been a narrowly-focused effort to constrain an out-of-control Forest Service logging program and turned it into a wasteful, endless, bureaucratic exercise with little merit. “ Andy Stahl (my bolding) My memory was the that FS had identified overanalysis as a … Read more
Here’s the press release and the website.. also the FS website for the new rule is in the blogroll in the right column Release No. 0620.09 Contact: Forest Service Press Office (202) 205-1134 USDA FOREST SERVICE LAUNCHES COLLABORATIVE PROCESS FOR NEW PLANNING RULE WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2009-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the USDA … Read more