community-public land stewardship nitiativesocs.fortlewis.edu/pubns/initiatives_spring99.pdf ·...

cplp Stewardship Initiatives l June-July1999 l 1

Economics of Forest RestorationResearch performed by Dennis Lynchties the practice of restoration forestry tocommunity sustainability guided by themaxim �ecology drives economy.�

Four Corners Sustainable ForestryInitiativeThis congressionally funded initiativewill bring an everwidening �circle ofcommunities� as its members conductan assessment and fund projectstowards a region-wide, small-diameterharvesting network.

Four Corners Tourism AssessmentThe Office of Community Services, withthe Four Corners Heritage Council, issurveying local governments, busi-nesses and public land agencies toattain four goals of ecologically, eco-nomically, and culturally sustainabletourism: community desire, landscapecapacity, project identification, and howagencies and communities can workbetter together.

Stewardship Contracting Pilot ProjectCongress provided five-year authority toexperiment with stewardship contractingon the San Juan National Forest thatincorporates a �Good Neighbor Agree-ment� with Colorado State ForestService, allowing the state to conductmanagement planning and implementa-tion with the pilot study.

Editorial Noteson Enlibra & the Committee of Scientists

The goal of collaborative, or community, ecosys-tem stewardship, is to reestablish productiverelationships between national forests and com-

munities. Proponents of this approach believe thatimproved relationships will benefit both public landsand communities that depend on sustainable ecosys-tems.

Greater attention to social-value challenges, greater public involve-ment, and a broader ecosystem management is moving three processesforward that are leading to more diverse relationships among public landagencies and communities. In general, these processes are:

� an increasing involvement by the general public, interest groups,and local communities in resource management planning anddecision-making;

� an awareness that stewardship of natural resource systems byknowledgeable and committed community members is moreeffective than top down governmental mandates and regulatoryprocedures; and

� growing support for community-based ecosystem managementthat incorporates both ecosystem and community sustainabilityinto an overarching theory of holistic ecosystem health.

These processes are contributing to a new alignment of community,economy, and ecology, which are viewed as interdependent in a more-holistic, longer-term perspective of public-resource management. Whencommunity, economy, and ecology are treated as dynamically interactive

See RELATIONSHIPS on page 2

June-July 1999

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5

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11

New relationships based on realigningcommunity, economy, and ecology

In This IssueWelcome! to the first issue of Initiatives, a periodical newsletter that coverscommunity and public lands perspectives, policies and projects in the Four Cornersregion. Prepared at Office of Community Services at Fort Lewis College, the stories inInitiatives are intended as a tool for those who need more information and commu-nication about changing social, cultural, ecological and economical issues affectingour communities, institutions and landscapes.

Increasingly, widely diverse people are talking to each other about these issues.We hope Initiatives reinforces that dialogue and broadens it to include everyone. Tothis end, we hope you will contribute your thoughts, ideas, news and events.

Utah

Arizona

Colorado

New Mexico

Community-Public Land

NITIATIVESIStewardship

2 l June-July 1999 l cplp Stewardship Initiatives

News Notes

Forest Plan revision to incorporate local knowledgeThe San Juan National Forest plan revision is underway again after acongressional moratorium was lifted. Revision team leader, ThurmanWilson, says that this revision will differ from the original plan by theway it incorporates citizen knowledge and desires into alternatives. Muchof that kind of information was recorded through a local study processfrom spring 1996 to spring 1998. Community study and working groupsmade up of a number of diverse-minded individuals and Forest Servicespecialists learned about agency management practices and rationale,heard citizens share their experiences, their knowledge of specific areasand concerns for their use and protection.

This spring and summer, Wilson and the Office of CommunityServices, whose staff facilitated the study process, are reviewing andcompiling the community information for drafting the revised ForestPlan and NEPA Environmental Impact Statement. Text should be readythis winter for more public review and discussion.

Backcountry byway links communities and BLMThe BLM and Fort Lewis College are engaging three mountain towns todevelop �cooperative management strategies� for the Alpine Loop, apopular San Juan Mountains four-wheel drive scenic route. Motivated bya 1997 Arizona State University survey of byway visitors and localresidents, local BLM managers plan to incorporate community viewsinto an Alpine Loop management plan while also initiating stronger,long-term relationships with community leaders and residents. Thismore focused approach to relationships will take shape with communityworkshops during May in Ouray, Silverton and Lake City, that werefacilitated by The Office of Community Services at Fort Lewis College.Contact Ken Francis for more information at (970) 247-7310.

COMMUNITY-PUBLIC LANDS STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVES is aperiodic newsletter funded cooperatively by:� Community-Public Land Partnership� Ford Foundation� Four Corners Sustainable Forestry Initiative� Four Corners Gateway Tourism Project� San Juan Stewardship Contracting Pilot Project� San Juan Skyway Partners

INITIATIVES is prepared for printing at the Office ofCommunity Services, Fort Lewis College. Wewelcome submissions of news, event information,editorials, and essay ideas. Please write or call:

Editor: Tim Richard, Research and Communica-tion Development at the Office of CommunityServices,1000 Rim Drive, Durango, Colorado 81301.PHONE: (970) 247-7066. FAX: (970) 247-7032.E-MAIL: [email protected]

DiscoveriesDiscoveriesDiscoveries

RELATIONSHIPS�Continued from page 1

The University of Missouri at Kansas City is

launching a new journal that seeks to incorporate

non-academic perspectives into community-based

discourse. Editors of the Journal of Community

Discourse say it is �dedicated to the open exchange

of ideas concerning the social successes and

problems affecting our communities.�

The journal�s editors encourage submissions

that may not be given voice in traditional journals,

including the work of those individuals outside the

realm of academe, under-represented perspectives,

and interdisciplinary works.

Topics covered by the journal include environ-

ment, politics and community organizing, econom-

ics, the law, diversity and multiculturalism, and other

issues.

The Journal of Community Discourse recog-

nizes that the solutions to social problems must cut

across traditional disciplinary lines, its editors write.

This makes the journal a potentially useful tool

for expressing some of the innovative activities of

cross-boundary collaboration occurring in the Four

Corners. Interested potential authors can send

submissions or learn more by contacting editors at:

UMDC Community Psychology Program

5319 Holmes

Kansas City, MO 64110

e-mail: [email protected] synergistic, the management and policy equation for public-landagencies, such as the Forest Service and BLM, will be a balance ofresource outputs and sustainability, products and stewardship, and a shiftingfrom conflict to partnership.

The future of public-land management ties deeply to relationshipsunderstood as sustainable ecosystems and human communities withinthem, community stewardship of public lands that strengthen andmodify traditional roles of governmental agencies, and community-public land partnerships that can build practical consensus on policiesand actions in landscapes and bioregions.

It is in a national context of changing natural-resource perspectives,values, and roles that the importance of relationships between theForest Service, the BLM and communities must be reexamined andgiven greater attention by a wide range of interests, stakeholders anddecision-makers.


Featured Essay

The economics of forest restorationThe experience of southwestern Colorado�s Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership

Both components � the economicanalysis and ecological monitoring �were required for a Forest ServiceAdministrative Use Study that allowedMontezuma County and the San JuanNational Forest to co-pilot the demon-strations.

Dr. Lynch explains that the eco-nomic analysis, which he designed andoversaw, measures what was removedduring the harvest. Ecological monitoringmeasures what remains after the harvest.

The nature of the relationshipbetween these aspects of analysis,which is essential to the continuingdevelopment of restoration forestry, isone in which �ecology drives ecomony,�Dr. Lynch emphasizes. The silviculturalprescription developed by SJNFforester Phil Kemp based on ecologicalresearch conducted by William Rommeof Fort Lewis College in Durango wasobviously crucial in guiding harvests.But insights gained from the economicresearch hold the most immediateimplications.

The method in briefTo determine an accurate economicpicture of restoration forestry insouthwest Colorado, Lynch lookedclosely at several economic-relatedparameters of the harvests, such as costand revenue, resulting products, market-

ing for newproducts, andForest Serviceadministrativecosts.

Lynch and his research associatecounted every tree and weighed everylog, following them from the cut to themill and beyond, in order to measurethe costs of the harvests to the incomethe loggers made.

The latest and most completefindings are in Lynch�s report Ecologyand Economics of Ponderosa Pine ForestRestoration on the Mancos-Dolores District ofthe San Juan National Forest. In summary,Lynch reports that out of the restora-tion project, which �incorporated fivesale units covering a total of 492.6acres, the removal of 31,163 trees (63.3per acre) for 6,075.8 tons of sawlogs,7,254.71 tons of waferwood, and1,047.15 tons of other products such asposts and poles, pulpwood and pineexcelsior,� the total profit to the loggerwas $3,533.67.

Lynch describes the profit, whichwas less than one percent on grossrevenues of $434,645.54, as a break-even situation that �is hardly a modelfor a sustainable business venture. . . .Break-even projects will never result inthe investments necessary to improveefficiencies and develop new products.�

As a commercial venture in theinterest of forest health, restorationforestry with these returns won�t workin future endeavors without applyinglessons learned from economic andecological research components.

However, in adaptive management,learning what doesn�t work often revealsmore than knowing what does. This

PATHWAYS TO PROFITABILITY

IN FOREST RESTORATION

nReduce sale costs: cruising andadministration costs, conduct weightscaling, sell at a flat price per ton.

nRestoration sales will not carry extracosts caused by harsh weather,roads, micro-management, marketshifts, or equipment changes.

nRelate stumpage prices to harvestingcosts and transactions associatedwith forest management in the localregion.

nRelate time and expense of saleadministration to the value of theproducts removed and the resourcevalues being achieved.

nConsider long-term sales so buyerscan invest in more efficient systems.

nContinue to collect data.

nSeek new products and markets.

nNever, never, never give up.

Dennis Lynch, Department of ForestSciences at Colorado State University,often draws a distinction between two

research components of restoration harvestdemonstrations that the Ponderosa Pine ForestPartnership conducted in southwest Colorado.


thinking fits with that of the Ponderosa Pine Forest Partner-ship and its key members, such as San Juan National Forestforester Phil Kemp, who has reasoned that restorationforestry is not based on all of the same economic, ecologicaland social, values that have historically driven the timberindustry � or the development of the American West, forthat matter.

Restoration forestry has beenpopularized as scientists, land managersand communities have begun piecingtogether a vision for forests thatencompasses multiple values and entailslooking closely at the whole spectrumof past, current, and future ecological,social, and economic conditions beforetaking actions in a participatory, part-nership framework.

Pertaining to the future, long-termgoals of the national forest system,those new values are found in commu-nity-ecosystem stewardship, whereecology drives economy, rather than theother way around.

A process shaped by this conceptcan help to link institutional capacity,market and product development,industry retooling, ecological andeconomic research, post-harvest monitoring, and otherstewardship initiatives in new ways that are beneficial to allinvolved. This includes the Forest Service (from ranger-district leadership, to Rural Community Assistance coordina-tors, to Washington), local mill owners and loggers, and plantand animal communities.

Implications of data on future actionsDr. Lynch concluded that, for loggers to make a profit fromwhich they could consider reinvesting under current marketconditions, about a third of the wood fiber removed in arestoration sale should be saw timber. He emphasized,though, that the ecological prescription must control harvestpreparation and implementation. �Restoration of the forestis, after all, the basic purpose of such projects� he writes.

Some of Lynch�s recommendations carry significantimplications for the Forest Service�s timber program. Hesuggests new actions and policies that include:

� The Forest Service should assign a specialist to plan,organize and monitor an ongoing, consistent forestrestoration and forest products program.

� Payments for material removed should relate to weight,not cruise, data.

� Stumpage pricing should relate to harvest costs andtransactions associated with restoration.

� Time and expense of sale adminis-tration should relate to the value ofproducts removed and the resourcevalues established by restoration.� To ensure profit, break-even criteriashould guide removal of small-diameterwood fiber to balance it with removalof saw timber.� Support new techniques, productsand market development with studies,loans, grants and technical assistance.� Create widespread recognition offorest restoration.

Some of these recommendationsare not new ideas. However, because ofthe PPFP and Lynch�s research (and theForest Service for providing theopportunity and funding for thedemonstration in the first place), theydo carry the credibility of empiricalresearch and suggest next steps to take.

�The economic results of this study, while only at abreak-even level, are encouraging enough to recommendfurther restoration and data collection in additional areas,�Dr. Lynch writes, adding that, �The study suggests thatrestoration can be accomplished without the input ofappropriated tax dollars if the project is well designed.�

As restoration forestry continues to develop, the integra-tion of both economic and ecological research and monitor-ing will be key to more efficient, productive harvests, devel-opment of new products and markets, reinvestment andretooling in the industry, improved wildlife habitat, morebiologically diverse species populations and distributions, andhopefully, increased practice of community-ecosystemstewardship among diverse community members and organi-zations.

For more information, call the Office of CommunityServices at (970) 247-7333, or the Montezuma CountyFederal Lands Program at (970) 565-8525.

THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

CONCLUDES:nRemoval of products-other-than-

logs (POL), material under 12

inches in diameter, results in an

economic loss.

nNew higher value products and

markets closer to the forest must

develop.

nAt least six trees of 12-inch dbh

(diameter at base height), or larger,

per acre of higher-value sawtimber

should be removed.

nTry for a relationship of at least

40% sawtimber to 60% POL.

nBased on current markets and

conditions, price sawtimber

stumpage between $25 and $70

per thousand board feet. Price POL

at minimum rates.


The Four Corners Sustainable Forestry Initiative began in1997 with the leadership of New Mexico State Forester,Toby Martinez, and other southwestern states foresters.

They saw throughout the Four Corners region increasing risksfor catastrophic fire and insect outbreaks in forest ecosystems, aswell as a declining capacity in communities to deal with forestrestoration and maintenance needs.

These conditions exist across social and jurisdictional boundaries in the FourCorners states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. There was a need tofocus national attention and resources on these commonly shared issues.

A coalition of diverse interests formed to identify clear goals for the Initiativeand seek congressional funding for associated programs. In 1999, Congressprovided $500,000 through the US Forest Service�s State and Private ForestryEconomic Action Program to seed Initiative programming. Funding is channeledthrough US Forest Service Region 3, headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The coalition has grown since efforts began to address forest and industryconditions, proof of which was witnessed in late 1998, when over 50 individuals,representing numerous businesses, organizations and agencies, met in Cortez,Colorado to create a strategy and steering committee for the Initiative. Thesteering committee is made up of 16 members from tribes in the region and allfour states. This committee is charged to coordinate and implement the Initiative�soutreach and programs.

The FutureInitiative members are

working to maximize

accomplishments in

1999, requesting $1

million for fiscal year

2000 from Congress.

These program dollars

will go toward commu-

nity-based projects and

other collaborative

efforts which encourage

long-term solutions to

both community and

forest resource con-

cerns. The Initiative

partners will continue

to seek funding

through 2002.

our CornersSustainable ForestryInitiativeF


Current Initiative ProgramsThe Four Corners Forestry InitiativeCommunity Grants Program . . .is designed for demonstrating and implementing creative solutions to theforest restoration and economic sustainability needs of the region. Themajority of Initiative funding is channeled into this program.

The Regional Integrated Resource Assessment . . .first compiled in 1999, is a user-friendly document which includes regionalforest conditions, available resource supply, as well as existing and potentialmarkets and business opportunities.

A Regional Network . . .of people is continually being developed to identify strategic actions as well asshare information and technical assistance. The first Strategic ActionSummit is in Taos, New Mexico on August 25 - 27, 1999.

Long-Term GoalsMerge . . . environmental and economic concerns by linking forestrestoration and maintenance needs with the production and marketing ofvalue-added products.

Strengthen and diversify . . . rural economies through community-led collaborative stewardship projects that illustrate creative solutions to forestrestoration needs.

Facilitate . . . the development of an information sharing and technicalassistance network among businesses, local leaders, non-profit groups, tribalinterests, state and federal agencies, and individuals concerned with forests.

Develop . . . value-added products from small-diameter timber and othernon-traditional forest resources, and identify markets for those products.

Reduce . . . the loss of natural resources to catastrophic fire, insect, anddisease by restoring at-risk forest ecosystems.

Our Vision:The Four Corners Sustainable Forestry Initiative aims to encourage forest restoration,

maintenance, and risk reduction through sustainable, community-based forest enterprises.

The Four Corners Sustain-

able Forestry Initiative is a

collaborative effort between

businesses, federal agen-

cies, local governments,

tribal organizations, and

non-profit groups.

For more information about

the Initiative, its community

grants program, or associ-

ated programs, just contact

one of the following repre-

sentatives.

ArizonaAmber HillLittle Colorado RC&D(520) 524-6063 ext. 204

ColoradoCarla GarrisonMontezuma County(970) 565-6061

New MexicoJudy KowalskiNew Mexico Forestry Division(505) 827-7474

TribalDorothy FirecloudUSDA Forest Service, Region 3(505) 842-3424

UtahDavid SchenUtah Division of Forestry(801) 538-5555


Four Corners Tourism Assessment

Defining sustainable futures

Building Strategies for Tourism Development and Resource Sustainability

The first phase of the Four Corners GatewayInitiative began last November in Cortez, Colo-rado as members of the Four Corners Heritage Council

and the Community Public Lands Partnership, administered bythe Office of Community Services at Fort Lewis College, out-lined a tourism assessment which got underway this spring of1999.

For the main activity of the assessment, surveyors are conducting interviewswith community government and business leaders, citizens, and public landmanagers to help identify the ability and desire of Four Corners communities todevelop tourism opportunities that are socially, culturally, and ecologically sustain-able.

The Gateway Initiative, as the overall project is dubbed, was funded for 1999

by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and USDA-ForestService. Along with CPLP-OCSand FCHC, those agencies ac-knowledge that the time is good forsmall communities to share in thebenefits of tourism that havepassed them by. Growing trendsin vacation travel, recreation, andother forms of tourism arecreating new opportunities for traditional towns that want to diversify their localeconomies to include sustainable tourism.

The funding is in response to the need to learn a number of things in order toensure that towns and landscapes will receive positive benefits tourism. Theassessment will identify such things as:

� a community�s desire for tourism development and its ability to providefacilities and services;

� ideas for viable tourism projects or programs that can be implemented at thecommunity level;

� what is the capacity of lands to bear tourism activities;� what opportunities exist for public-land agencies, communities and the

tourism industry to work together better.

The gathering of this kind of information is the assessment�s objective. Thebroader objective is to learn about the needs of towns and agencies. For example,present and future capacities are important for the region�s public lands and otherpopular attractions. This information will be diverse, considering how differentlyan archaeologist and a recreation planner might answer the survey questionnaire.The resulting information will be rich in knowledge and perspectives.

Colorado & New MexicoKen Francis, Office of CommunityServices, is Colorado & New Mexicoproject coordinator.Fort Lewis College1000 Rim Drive(970) 247-7310FAX 247-7032

Utah & ArizonaCleal Bradford, Four CornersHeritage Council, coordinates effortsin Utah and Arizona�s Little Coloradowatershed.131 W. 200 South 666Blanding, UT 84511(435) 678-2201 x120FAX 678-2220

Co-coordinating efforts with ClealBradford for the Navajo Nation are:Thomas Boyd (520) 871-7392,Selena Manychildren (520) 810-8502and Jack Anderson (520) 810-8501.PO Box 663Window Rock, AZ 86515

Growing trends in vacation travel,

recreation, and other forms of

tourism are creating new opportuni-

ties for traditional towns that want

to diversify their local economies to

include sustainable tourism.

Who we are

The Four Corners TourismAssessment is identifying howsmall communities mightdiversify their economy bytaking advantage of tourismmarkets in the region, withoutadding more pressures toexisting public-land attractions,or losing sensitivity to thecommunity�s desired identity.

Two assessment surveyshave been developed to betterunderstand relationshipsbetween public-land attractionsand their corresponding �gate-way� communities: one for thecommunity and tribes andanother for public land agen-cies.


A small research team has beeninterviewing people since late Februarysoon after �kick-off � meetings inCortez and Window Rock were held tofamiliarize interested individuals aboutthe project. The team has been contact-ing key individuals in communities andpublic-land agencies for the interviews.

The researchers are focusing theassessment on small communities andagencies in the Four Corners. However,the Little Colorado watershed in east-centralArizona is included. Communities there are tryingto rebound from declines is its natural resourceindustries.

The assessments in part will identify whattowns and agencies have in common. For example,businesses might support expanding the economythrough tourism, but questions of the landscape�sability to support it may need answers first. Howdo we relate the land�s carrying capacity to thedesires of the tourism industry?

In some cases�for example, the Dine�tribalcommunities and chapter house members mayprefer to ask their own questions in their ownways.

�Understanding the [community and agency]networks out there is essential to implementingstrategies and helping to integrate visitor experi-ences with sustainable tourism goals,� says ClealBradford. �Communities will be at different stagesof tourism development. Once we know wherethey are, the Gateway project will know where tostart helping them to assess their needs.�

Success

Measures

PedestrianFriendlyCommunities

Non-motorizedmodes of

transportation in acommunity create aquality sustainabletourism experience.Trails & sidewalksencourage peopleto walk, rather thandrive. Plus, apleasant walkingenvironment, whichis environmentallybeneficial, alsoreduces autoexhaust pollution.It also offers socialbenefits byallowing informalencounters amongvisitors andresidents. Walkingis a healthyexercise, too.

The FOUR CORNERS TOURISM ASSESSMENT is aCommunity-Public Land Partnershipproject, funded by the USDA-ForestService, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and theBureau of Land Management, andconducted in partnership with the FourCorners Heritage Council. The CPLP isadministered by the Office of CommunityServices, Fort Lewis College, 1000 RimDrive, Durango, Colorado 81301.PHONE: (970) 247-7333FAX: (970) 247-7032

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One purpose of the Four Corners Tourism

Assessment is to identify socially, culturally,

and ecologically sustainable opportunities

and limitations for tourism development in

traditional communities. It also will identify

opportunities for public-land agencies,

communities and tourism businesses to

work together on common goals.

Improving ecologicalstewardship and

strengthening communitiesby fostering cooperation,

learning and opencommunication.

If communities want to market or attracttourism, they can target certain activities thatare more sustainable and compatible with the

land and their unique identity. The GatewayInitiative can help to:

� Identify the social, economic, and ecologicalbenefits and costs of tourism development.

� Identify areas of heavy and light use andactivities associated with them.

� Understand how agencies picture capacityissues, by learning what they do now andwhat they would like to do. We can use theinformation to develop strategies to im-prove, enhance methods.

� Understand how to improve land manage-ment and to build better relationshipsamong town, agencies and businesses.

� Identify possible future sustainable opportu-nities.

Nuts and boltsof the assessmentResearchers areinterviewing keycommunity and public-landagency people, askingthem to fill out aquestionnaire. Information,once gathered, analyzed,and reported will help withtourism developmentprojects and strategies.

S t r a t e g y


Southwestern Ecosystems Stewardship Initiatives

National SignificanceBased on the outcomes of the five-yeartesting and monitoring of the 28stewardship contracts, Congress,communities, special-interest groupsand others will shape options forstewardship contracting across thenation.

The broad legislation that guidesthese pilots says in general to imple-ment this concept and make sure toinvolve a broad diversity of people andgroups, and closely monitor the processand its results.

While experiments with steward-ship contracting were authorized for ashort time in the early 1980s, this roundwill have greater implications for anumber of reasons:n Stewardship contracting is a mecha-

nism to get needed restorationmanagement done on lands of lowcommercial value, but high ecologicalvalue.

Program funded by Congress

San JuanNational Forestprepares to teststewardshipcontracting forfive years

n Stewardship contracting offersopportunities for people in smallcommunities to get involved and takeresponsibility for, and ownership in,the forests from which they benefit.

n The USFS timber program, as it existstoday, does not work well for restora-tion forestry. Stewardship contractingoffers new tools to accomplish landmanagement needs.

Southwest EcosystemStewardship Pilot Goalsn Address forest restoration and

maintenance needs with the help ofcredible science, broad publicinvolvement, and traditional manage-ment tools.

n Encourage economically sustainablelocal and regional businesses relatedto forest restoration. Work opportuni-ties would include harvests, roadmanagement, wildlife enhancements.

n Demonstrate that stewardshipcontracting can improve financialefficiency, streamline administration,and increase restoration and mainte-nance activities on the land.

n Work collaboratively on forest issuesacross both social and economicboundaries.

Strategies to Meet Goalsn Design agreements and contracts,

using the new authorities thataccomplish multiple-resourcerestoration and maintenance needsacross a landscape.

n Create working arrangements with theColorado State Forest Service whichallow their staff to implement andadminister management activities onForest Service lands for the pilot.

n Develop a Stewardship WorkingGroup made up of citizens and otheragencies to review proposed activitiesand to lead monitoring efforts.

n Implement a well-designed monitor-ing program.

n Gather costs for implementation ofstewardship agreements incurred byboth the San Juan NF and theColorado State Forest Service (CSFS).Compare those costs to traditionalForest Service costs.

The 1999 Interior AppropriationsBill provides authority during thenext five years to experi-ment withstewardship contracting via 28 contracts across the National Forest system. The San Juan NationalForest will conduct an experiment through one of those contracts. The San Juan and its partnersin the Southwestern Colorado Stewardship Contracting Pilot Project will plan and implementseveral sub-projects on both public and private lands within a watershed located in Montezumaand La Plata counties.


Cherry Creek LandscapeStewardship Contract PlanAn agreement between the ColoradoState Forest Service and San Juan NFwill allow the CSFS to implementidentified stewardship projects acrossthe Cherry Creek landscape. Neededmanagement activities will be identifiedby representatives from the USFS,CSFS, private landowners, and aStewardship Working Group over thelife of the pilot program.

Activities might involve monitoring,timber harvest, prescribed fire, roadobliteration or maintenance, wildlifeimprovements, and noxious weedcontrol. The state will contract withlocal businesses to conduct work, thenoversee that work. The state willmaintain a stewardship account fordistributing and holding funds. The USFS will conduct NEPAactivities and monitor all projectactivities. The Stewardship WorkingGroup, made up of a diverse mix oflocals, will help identify projects andmonitor activities as they proceed. The initial project focuses on theCherry Creek landscape which encom-passes roughly 11,000 acres of publicand private land. Of that mixed owner-ship, 1,300 acres are private land. The

landscape has previously been thesubject of public visioning. Whileprojects may occur across land owner-ships, priority will be placed on projectswhere USFS staff has already identifiedneeds and where management is neededto meet desired future conditions asalready identified by the public.

Identified Project for 1999A 40-acre site has been selected for aninitial project. A small, family ownedmill in the area will conduct the follow-ing activities under a stewardshipagreement with the Colorado StateForest Service:

� Thinning of small ponderosapine.

� Regeneration of a small patch ofaspen.

� Noxious weed control.� Thinning of oak beneath larger

pine trees to protect from fireand in some clusters to encouragelarger oaks for wildlife benefits.

Compensation will be sought forthe contractor for work done throughthe value of ponderosa pine harvested.Activities, including harvests, will beguided by a management plan designedby the CSFS and USFS.

Southwest EcosystemStewardship Partners

� Community Public LandsPartnership (administered bythe Office of Community Ser-vices, Fort Lewis College)

� Montezuma County

� Colorado State ForestService

� San Juan National Forest


E d i t o r i a ls

Entitled �Sustaining the People�sLands: Recommendations for Stewardshipof the National Forests and Grasslands intothe Next Century,� the report lists eightbuilding blocks of stewardship capacity �trust, collaborative broad-based understand-ing, joint fact-finding, dealing with conflict,willingness of the agency, resources,collaboration resources and skills (capabili-ties), and a learning organization. It thengoes on to say that pursuing a planningprocess constructed of these buildingblocks will not be easy, because theycontradict long-held professional paradigmsand organizational norms that focus oncommodity outputs.

The Committee of Scientists recom-mends developing organizational structuresthat provide a �ready forum and mechanismfor the collaboration, information-sharing,and linkages between people and resourcesthat are internal or external to the agency.�

This recommendation, which evokes aprinciple of sustainability and a strategy ofpartnership, presents significant opportuni-ties and implications for local and regionalcommunity and public-land partnerships.

While the Forest Service clearly needsto go through the challenging process of

Putting Enlibra principles to the (field) test

The real test of the principles, will benot how various interests interpret them,but how they are practiced and how theyinform and are informed by existing andfuture environmental endeavors.

In southwest Colorado and the FourCorners region, for example, very similarprinciples have guided a practice ofinnovation in partnership and problem-solving, results-based projects betweenpublic-land agencies, local governments,citizen groups, and landowners.

A presentation at last fall�s Conference ofEnvironmental Protection and Growth Manage-ment in the West by County CommissionerEugene Story revealed links betweenEnlibra principles and accomplishments inMontezuma County, Colorado. Story gaveexamples for each principle put into practicein the Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnershipand the Montezuma County ComprehensiveLand Use Plan. He shared his thoughts onlessons learned which we share with youhere:

� There is no one-size-fits-all answer toenvironmental protection and growthmanagement challenges. �We needflexibility to adapt to our own localsituations,� Story said, adding thatEnlibra allows that kind of flexibility.

� Address challenges from the mostlocal level�from �the grass roots up.�

� Focus on communication and trustbuilding, rather than prescribed, highlyformalized bureaucratic fixes. Localleaders should tap into informalnetworks to discover and solveproblems before they becomedisruptive and driven by outsideforces.

� Elected officials, staff people,environmentalists, and businesspeople have to take risks to transformthe energy of fighting each other intoconstructive problem solving.

� Begin with commonly recognizedproblems that are soluble; build onsmall successes.

� Give everyone of all persuasions a

chance to take ownership in problemsand solutions, but don�t let extremeviews paralyze constructive actions.

� No matter how hard we try, we�regoing to have blow ups and mistakes,but we need to stay focused onprotecting the relationships we havebuilt and learn from our mistakesopenly and honestly.

These principled actions, based on trial-tested experiences, suggest that whether ornot initial goals are fully realized, it is vital

that outcomes are reached by participationof all who have a stake. Cumulatively, theyprovide a concrete criteria for movingtowards the balance and stewardship thatEnlibra stands for.

The question of how to interpretEnlibra has come up, but now we can applylessons of forerunners to the understandingof how to face challenges in the environ-ment and in how we work together inconfronting them.

change to build its capacity and makeinstitutional transformations in order tosupport community-ecosystem stewardship,it can not do it alone. None of the public-land agencies can change themselveswithout a proactive community. It is thecontinued presence of active community-ecosystem partnerships working to improvespecific landscapes and sustain real commu-nities that can bring out the reflection andstimuli needed for institutional capacitybuilding.

While the track record is anecdotal atthis point, a clear picture is emerging ofhow such partnerships are bringing newopportunities for learning, ecologicalimprovement, trust building, accountability,and institutional revitalization to public-landagencies that work collaboratively.

Given numerous challenges confront-ing both the Forest Service and communitypartnership initiatives in the Four Corners,it�s worthwhile spending time with the solidand interesting ideas in the Committee ofScientists report and have a dialogue as weand the Forest Service begin to grapple withits implications.

COS presents both challenges and opportunitiesThe long awaited Committee of Scientists report on Forest Service planningmakes a strong connection between a guiding principle of sustainability and�building the capacity of stewardship� within the Forest Service, other landmanagement agencies, local governments, social groups, and individuals.

Recent reports say the new Enlibra principles can innovatively resolve environmental disputes and create broaderparticipation in environmental management. It is easy to agree with the principles in principle, so to speak, but theirbroadness leaves them subject to various, perhaps competing, interpretations.


Calendarspring through fall, 1999Gateway Tourism Assessment TimeFrameMay, June, July: Conduct interviews and beginanalyzing data.August, September: Continue analyzing data, writereport and recommendationsEnd of September, or October: Hold open houses toshare information with communities.

August 25 & 26, 1999First Four Corners Sustainable ForestryStrategic Action Roundtable, Taos, New MexicoFor more information, contact a Sustainable Forestryperson in your region, see page 6.

New publications provideanalysis and practicalitiesof forest restorationand community stewardshipThe Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership:Community Stewardship in SouthwesternColorado. [(1999). Cortez, CO: MontezumaCounty Federal Lands Program, 44 pages.]

This booklet introduces PPFP partners anddescribes the methods they effectively used to imple-ment a demonstration restoration project. It tells a storythat shares ideas for integrating community stewardshipgoals with forest restoration methods.

The Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership:Forging New Relationships to Restore aForest. (1999). Durango, CO: Office of Commu-nity Services, Fort Lewis College.

This academic, analytical paper (40 pages), whichtells the PPFP story, identifies and examines broaderlinkages that have occurred across southwest Coloradosimultaneously with, in direct relation to, the PPFP. Itanswers questions of interest within the US ForestService related to building capacity for being moreeffective in innovating community stewardship, adaptivemanagement and community-public land partnerships.

Feedback! What do you like about CPLP Initiatives? What would you like to see in the next issue�a particular topic, project, or locality? Would like to submit event dates, news, essays, photos for publication? Contact TimRichard, Office of Community Services, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive , Durango, CO 81301. (970) 247-7066, fax: (970)247-7032, e-mail: [email protected]

COMMUNITY-PUBLIC LAND STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVESc/o Office of Community Services1000 Rim DriveDurango, CO 81301

community-public land stewardship nitiativesocs.fortlewis.edu/pubns/initiatives_spring99.pdf ·...

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