Excellent Resources on the Socioeconomic Benefits of Restoration
We at the National Forest Foundation suggest you take a few minutes to review these excellent new resources developed by the Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon. Read the message from EWP Director Cassandra Mosely to learn more…
**********
The Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon is excited to announce three new resources to help integrate social and economic benefits into ecological restoration on public lands.
Two Quick Guides provide strategies for enhancing collaboration and local economic benefit from restoration work:
The first, A Quick Guide for Incorporating Collaboration into the Watershed Condition Framework, provides tips and strategies for increasing collaboration among national forests and partners at each phase of planning and implementation in the Framework.
The second, A Quick Guide for Creating High-Quality Jobs Through Restoration on National Forests, provides techniques for increasing local economic benefit and job creation from restoration using existing authorities and programs.
One report, Developing Socioeconomic Performance Measures Related to the Watershed Condition Framework, outlines strategies for developing new social and economic performance measures related to the Forest Service’s Watershed Condition Framework and restoration on public lands more generally. The proposed performance measures make use of data the Forest Service already collects, and “score cards” that allow local units and their partners to monitor progress in the areas of adaptive capacity, economic benefit, and social equity. We hope that this report will help the Forest Service and their partners develop local performance measures and monitoring frameworks to track the social and economic impacts of their efforts. Over time, we hope this report will also foster a national dialogue about how to measure social and economic outcomes of restoration on public lands.
You can find all of these resources along with several briefing papers summarizing our findings here.
These resources were created in partnership with the US Forest Service Office of Watersheds, Fish, Wildlife, Air & Rare Plants. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or feedback. Please share these resources with your networks.
Upcoming peer learning session offered!
Please join us for an upcoming peer learning opportunity on Temporary Roads, jointly offered by the Montana Forest Restoration Committee and the National Forest Foundation.
Temporary Roads
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time
The session will focus on the temporary road implementation process, from authorization, to on the ground work, to post-project follow-up. It is sure to be an educational session, with lots of vigorous discussion.
We will cover a variety of topics, including:
- The definition of a temporary road: what qualifies and what doesn’t?
- Where roads should and should not go
- Temporary road design
- Contracting
- Best Management Practices and environmental sideboards
- Seasonal management of temporary roads
- Planning field trips to assess road design and removal
Please note that this session is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. This peer learning session is being offered jointly by the Montana Forest Restoration Committee and the National Forest Foundation. An internet connection and a telephone are needed to join the session.
For more information on the Montana Forest Restoration Committee, please visit: www.montanarestoration.org
A three-year strategic partnership between the National Forest Foundation and the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition recently culminated in a statewide Community-Based Watershed Management Forum, held in Juneau, Alaska March 7-9th 2012.
Natural resource professionals and watershed practitioners came from around the state to present on the innovative projects, program, and management strategies they are carrying out in communities and villages throughout Southeast Alaska and the state. The goal of the forum was to build the capacity of Southeast Alaska’s tribes, municipalities, agencies, and organizations to carry out community-based watershed projects and management strategies
A diverse group of over 70 participants attended the forum, including representatives from over 15 communities, tribes, municipalities, federal and state natural resource agency, Native Corporations, industry, the private sector, and representatives from the Alaska state legislature.
This forum was the first of its kind, focusing entirely on building the capacity of natural resource and community development professionals working in the State of Alaska to strengthen collaborative efforts on the ground in communities and villages. The forum was structured around the three primary objectives which included 1) providing a networking opportunity by connecting a diverse group of professionals and community members, 2) offering trainings and specific tools and resources necessary for community based watershed management and planning, and 3) identifying strategic partnership opportunities and ways to work collaboratively across Southeast Alaska.
Operating in isolated, rural communities local leaders and natural resource practitioners often do not have access to resources and information needed to effectively steward their local watersheds. Furthermore, they very rarely have the opportunity to come together with other practitioners to discuss what is working and how we can work together for greater impact. Many of the common themes heard at the Community Based Watershed Management Forum stressed the importance of networking in order to share project ideas and lessons learned. This forum also provided the opportunity to further develop strategic partnerships for the benefit of Southeast Alaska watersheds and the communities that depend upon them.
From additional information on the Forum, as well as, access to the PowerPoint Presentations and Trainings please visit SAWC’s website: [Click here!]
Non-profit Ecology: 8 Lessons in Collaborative Leadership
Back in October 2011, the NFF held its seventh Collaboration & Capacity-Building Workshop in Lyons, Colorado. One of the sessions focused on collaborative leadership, and we asked several collaborative leaders (who also happen to be leaders of collaboratives!) to talk about the leadership structures of their groups and to share any advice and lessons they’ve learned over the years. Here is a synopsis of Annie Schmidt’s lessons. We’re sure you’ll recognize the wisdom of her words, as well as get a chuckle from her creative metaphors.
Non-profit Ecology: 8 Lessons in Collaborative Leadership
Ecology is the study of the relationships of organisms to each other and to their environment. And what is more about relationships than collaborative non-profits? The fact that we all work in the natural resource field only makes the comparison of our non-profit ecosystem to the natural one more apt. So, in the spirit of non-profit ecology*, here are eight lessons the natural world can teach us about leadership.
- Hierarchy doesn’t equal leadership. Just because you are the oldest wolf (or the E.D) in the pack, it doesn’t make you the automatic leader. Respect your team and they will respect you. Remember, leadership is something you can improve.
- Old wolves have seen more scat than you have – so pay attention when they try to tell you something.
- Fly in a V – common goals and shared vision matter. Birds flying in a V-formation can go further together than they can go alone. They are a team, headed in the same direction and they leave and arrive together. The birds support each other and so should your team. As the guy in front tires, another takes his or her place.
- Every bird counts – value your team. Every bird (or Board Member) should know they matter to the destination, because they do.
- Succession is important. No organization should be one charismatic leader away from failure. Each bird in the V steps up when needed. Every bird is prepared to contribute to the mission.
- Don’t get too far out front or the pack will turn on you. Sometimes, change is slow… and you can only go as fast as the slowest member of your team.
- Employ tenacious creativity (phrase from Leading at the Edge – Leadership lessons from the Extraordinary saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition). What creature is more tenaciously creative than ants? Those can find their way into anything and then COMMUNICATE that information CLEARLY to others. Be industrious, be tenacious, and be creative. Be an ant.
- Feed your pack – both literally and figuratively. Starving animals are a little unpredictable. In a literal sense, provide food at meetings because there is something calming and bonding about sharing a bite to eat. Figuratively, think about the ants and birds. Ants form those industrious little trails searching for food. Birds band together to migrate to where they will have better food and shelter. Both species are seeking nourishment and, in a more general sense, survival. Your team members are seeking nourishment too – that is why they volunteer. It may be personal satisfaction, it may be sense of accomplishment, real change on the ground, or something entirely different – their reasons will differ. But you, as a leader, can figure out what they are seeking (ask them!) and provide it. Show the Board the impact of their actions. Feed them, because if you don’t – they will find an organization that will. Or they will eat you.
* “Non-profit ecology” is a completely made-up term designed to provide a cool (or at least intellectual-sounding) framework for the ramblings of the author, Annie Schmidt, Director of the Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition.
