STAKEHOLDERS’ RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE USDA FOREST SERVICE AT THE SPRUCE KNOB-SENECA ROCKS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, WEST VIRGINIA

Katherine A. Thompson When the NRA was initially developed, the impression Graduate Research Assistant among local residents was that any property used Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources Program for the NRA would be purchased only from willing West Virginia University sellers. The fi nal legislation creating the NRA, however, P.O. Box 6125 Morgantown WV 26506-6125 authorized the use of eminent domain as a method of [email protected] land acquisition. Furthermore, from the local residents’ perspective, the initial planning process for the NRA Chad D. Pierskalla favored “outsiders” and ignored local input. These and West Virginia University other NRA development issues created an atmosphere of Steven W. Selin mistrust that is only recently beginning to resolve itself West Virginia University (Stancil 2005, Thompson 2006).

Abstract.—The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National The purpose of this study was to assess the current Recreation Area (NRA) is developing a collaborative relationships between stakeholders and management, and management plan. To develop a public involvement the temporal and historical context of management issues strategy, it is necessary to assess the social conditions in associated with the NRA to help managers successfully the area. The purpose of this study was to determine the develop confl ict management strategies that build trust relationship local stakeholders in the NRA have with during the planning process. the USDA Forest Service (USFS) with regard to the collaborative management process. Study participants 2.0 METHOD (N = 12) were selected based on their knowledge about A snowball sampling method was used to identify and interest in the NRA, including those dependent potentially interested residents in the NRA area. Study on the economic benefi ts and amenities of the area. participants were selected based on their knowledge Study participants were asked to describe and rate the about and interest in the NRA, and dependence on relationship that currently exists between stakeholders the direct economic benefi ts and amenities of the area. and the USFS. Stakeholders were primarily focused on The sample included current and former USDA Forest future economic development, and generally rated their Service employees, local business owners who gained current relationship with the USFS as positive. The direct economic benefi ts from the NRA, and local current relationship between stakeholders and NRA elected offi cials on the city and county levels. Twelve management was found to be suitable for a collaborative semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted management approach to NRA planning. with NRA stakeholders in 2005. Each interview was tape-recorded and later transcribed; each interview lasted 1.0 INTRODUCTION about an hour. The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (NRA) was established in 1965 and is located in Study participants were asked to describe the relationship the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. between stakeholders and the USFS. They were also The original recreation plan was revised during the asked to rate how the USFS values a collaborative forest planning process in 1986. Since then, many social approach to management on a scale of 1 (not and economic changes have taken place in the local collaborative) to 10 (collaborative) for the following communities, making the previous plans out-of-date attributes of collaboration: representation, access to (Stancil 2005). Managers are interested in developing a management, information sharing, and encouraging collaborative planning process to revise the existing plan. citizen participation.

176 Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium GTR-NRS-P-14 A qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts Table 1.—Temporal references made by interviewees (N = 297) was performed using a combination of QDA Temporal References Miner content analysis software and manual Interviewee Past Present Future Total coding. Although other topics were discussed in 1551525 the interviews, this study focused on the historical 2 7 12 19 38 aspects of both the region and the stakeholders’ 336817 relationships with NRA management. A raw 4 5 23 23 51 5 4 13 10 27 count of word frequency in the transcriptions 6 8 10 9 27 was conducted using QDA Miner. Initial 7 13 9 16 38 examination of these frequencies was used to 813161544 determine categories for content analysis. Based 910101030 on the categories, data were analyzed and coded Total 68 104 125 297 manually for content regarding history. The Overall percentage of references 22.9 35 42.1 100 three initial categories were Past, Present, and Future. The Past category was then further broken down into two subcategories: Distant Past (10 Years a present or future context. Interviewees mentioned or More) and Recent Past (9 Years or Fewer). Each of the past 68 times (22.9%) out of the 297 times that these categories was examined, and common issues and specifi c time periods were mentioned in their interviews. concerns were identifi ed. Rather than examine specifi c Interviewees who had resided in or recreated in the NRA word occurrences, responses were examined in context. for more extended periods of time were more likely to Every time there was a change in discussion topic within mention the past. In contrast, interviewees mentioned the responses, it was determined whether that response the present 104 times (35%) and the future 125 times corresponded with the Past, Present, or Future category. (42.1%). The number of references to the past varied Past responses were further broken down into the two among interviewees from a low of fi ve responses out of subcategories referenced above. 51 temporal references or 9.8 percent (Respondent 4) to a high of 13 responses out of 38 temporal references or From the interview transcripts, 297 issues were 34.2 percent (Respondent 7). determined to be temporally related. These data were then analyzed to determine the percentage of time When the Past category was divided into the categories respondents were focusing on different time periods as Distant Past (10 Years or More) and Recent Past (9 Years they related to the NRA. or Fewer), a minority of responses (38.2%) were found to refer to the Distant Past; 61.8 percent of responses Further, quantitative analysis was performed on the referred to the Recent Past. While two respondents did scores stakeholders gave to the various attributes of a not refer to any events occurring more than nine years collaborative management approach (representation, ago, one respondent referred to the Distant Past in access to management, information sharing, and twelve out of thirteen references to the past. Removing encouraging citizen participation). These scores were the outlier (Respondent 7) brought the percentage of correlated with the scores respondents gave to their references to the Distant Past to 25.4 percent. In the perception of how the USFS values a collaborative context of temporal references overall, 8.8 percent of management approach. those references related to the Distant Past. Adjusted for the outlier, however, that proportion decreases to 4.9 3.0 RESULTS percent. 3.1 Qualitative Analysis Current and former USFS employees were excluded In the Distant Past category, the majority of references from this portion of the analysis. Issues (N = 297) coded were to cultural history and heritage, ranging from a local in the text (N = 9) were most frequently presented in Native American legend to generational landholding and

Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium GTR-NRS-P-14 177 Table 2.—References to the past by time period (n = 68) 3.2 Quantitative Analysis Distant Past Recent Past 3.2.1 Relationships Between Respondents and Interviewee (10 Years or More) (9 Years or Fewer) Total USFS Management 1145Respondents (N = 12) were asked to rate 2257their relationship with USFS management as 3033 4055good, fair, or poor. The majority (83.3%) of 5134respondents rated their relationship with the 6178USFS as Good, and 16.7 percent of respondents 712113rated their relationship with the USFS as Fair. 86713No respondents rated their relationship with the 93710 USFS as Poor. Total 26 42 68 Percentage of References to Past 38.2 61.8 100 3.2.2 Attributes of Collaborative Management In this portion of the analysis, current and former USFS employees were excluded. The local agricultural traditions. Additional comments were remaining respondents (N = 9) were asked to rate how made regarding the history of climbing at Seneca Rocks, the USFS values a collaborative approach to management natural disasters, and regional stakeholders’ approaches to on a scale of 1 (not collaborative) to 10 (collaborative). providing private facilities in and near the NRA. They were then asked to rate the USFS for the following attributes of collaboration: representation, access to In the Recent Past category, respondents largely management, information sharing, and encouraging discussed the development of relationships with USFS citizen participation. representatives in the recent past. Most respondents expressed positive or improving relationships between The mean rating for how respondents thought the stakeholders and the USFS. Other issues mentioned USFS valued collaboration overall was 7.39. The highest frequently in this category included increased visitation rating of the different attributes of collaboration was = in some areas of the NRA and the accompanying impacts with Information Sharing (.)x 733 and the lowest on those areas; the perceived lack of marketing of the ratings were for Encouraging Citizen Participation and NRA by county, state, and USFS offi cials; and the Collaborative Decision Making (both x = 656. ). Access diffi culty of getting local residents to volunteer in and to Management received a mean rating of 7.22, and around the NRA. Representation received a mean rating of 6.78.

The most common topics mentioned by respondents When examined for correlation with the Overall rating were present and future economic development; the of how much the USFS valued collaboration, all fi ve majority of responses in both the Present and Future attributes of collaboration were strongly correlated with categories were related to increased tourism, regional respondents’ overall ratings (p < .05). development, the Corridor H highway project and its predicted impact on tourism, and other commerce- Table 3.—Correlations of collaborative attributes related issues. Respondents were predominantly in and overall collaboration (N = 9) favor of tourism development. It should be noted, Collaborative attributes Pearson r p however, that these results are representative only of Representation .684 .042 those individuals who participated in this study; further Information Sharing .744 .022 research is necessary to determine whether this attitude Participation .836 .005 is shared by other members of the NRA gateway Collaborative decision making .883 .002 communities. Access .769 .016

178 Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium GTR-NRS-P-14 4.0 DISCUSSION maintain the qualities that make the area unique. That Stakeholders generally have a positive view of their the interviewees are looking to the future without much current relationships with the USFS; 83.3 percent of thought about the past (with the singular exception of respondents rated their relationship with the USFS as Respondent 7) indicates the need for an effort to record Good and none rated their relationship as Poor. When and preserve the cultural history of the residents in and asked how the USFS values a collaborative approach near the NRA to preserve the area’s unique character. on a scale of 1 (not collaborative) - 10 (collaborative), NRA management is already moving in this direction respondents rated the USFS, on average, 7.39. with recent efforts to involve the local community in developing a heritage garden and presenting interpretive In addition, all fi ve attributes of collaboration programming at the Sites Homestead, a homestead from (Information Sharing, Access to Management, the mid-1800s located at Seneca Rocks. Representation, Encouraging Citizen Participation and Collaborative Decision Making) were found to be In conclusion, the time is ripe for a collaborative important to stakeholders with regard to the overall planning process at the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks collaborative process. To build trust and a collaborative National Recreation Area. Stakeholders are focused environment, all of these attributes must be present on future development in and around the NRA, and during the planning process. Stakeholders feel that the have a positive view of local USFS management. USFS is doing a good job with information sharing, Managers could improve their encouragement of citizen but encouraging citizen participation and collaborative participation and collaborative decision-making, but decision-making could improve. overall have developed a relationship with stakeholders that supports a collaborative planning process. We Stakeholders are looking to the present and future recommend that social relations with stakeholders regarding issues and concerns with the NRA. be treated as an indicator to be monitored to ensure Stakeholders frequently mentioned the changing that good relations continue. Future research should demographics of NRA visitors (see also Siniscalchi et include gateway community members who do not al. 2004); the need to maintain the unique natural, benefi t directly from the presence of the NRA, as well as cultural, and historical qualities of the NRA; and community members whose relationships with the USFS increased regional development, particularly the have not been historically positive. pending development of Corridor H, a highway that 5.0 CITATIONS is expected to increase accessibility to the NRA from the Washington, D.C.-metro area. Various approaches Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. Unpublished to dealing with issues and concerns that stakeholders Master’s thesis, West Virginia University, Morgantown, expressed in these interviews were addressed by West WV. Virginia University in a series of white papers presented to NRA management in the spring of 2006. Siniscalchi, J.; DeCarlo, K.; Pierskalla, C.; Selin, S. 2004. Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation When stakeholders focused on the past, their focus Area Study: Identifying Visitor Characteristics, was not related to previous political issues between Needs, and Preferences. stakeholders and the USFS; rather, they tended to focus on the cultural history of the area and personal Thompson, K.A. 2006. Historical preservation at the experiences recreating on the NRA. While the future Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation development of the NRA and the surrounding areas is Area. White paper presented to the USDA Forest important, it is equally important to preserve the local Service. cultural traditions and character of the area in order to

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