Public Participation Volunteers Education

community. The USFS Pacific Northwest Research forest trail, adopt a meadow, monitor a stream, Station, the National Biological Service (now maintain or clean up a campground, conduct being transferred to the U.S . Geological Survey), wildlife surveys, conduct research study Oregon State University, and other institutions can measurements, conduct population counts of contribute strongly to the AMA mission of wildlife species, or develop bird lists for an area; learning through management. • Recruit individual volunteers to assist with agency • Develop positive modes ofinteraction with county programs; commissions. Counties can identify areas in which • Develop cooperative programs with public school the federal agencies could help promote county classes and community colleges planning objectives • Invite non-agency persons to participate in conducting public tours of AMA management activities; and • Form partnerships with existing organizations to Public Participation provide and maintain new facilities, roads, trails, or interpretive signs and guide services. Many groups and or2anizations could contribute ideas and assistance to 1he AMA. Following are some of the types of organizations that would have the potential to participate: Education • Industry Groups could participate in local advisory A key feature of the AMA is the opportunity to increase councils and community-based action groups, awareness and understanding of ecosystem processes representing business and labor concerns in the and ecosystem management options. The knowledge adaptive management process. developed by people in local communities, natural • Educational Organizations, including local schools resource management agencies, colleges and and community colleges, could take a more active universities, and research facilities needs to be shared as role in AMA planning, implementation, and widely as possible among AMA participants and the moni toring, while providing hands-on learning for local population. Increasing technical and scientific those who participate. learning, sharing information, and training local • Environmental Organizations can provide valuable workforces are all part of the educational component of input to planning and study design efforts, through AMA programs. advisory councils, watershed councils, by actively reviewing and commenting on project proposals, A list of current and ongoing educational programs and and by mobilizing other citizens to take a more information sharing methods is located in Appendix G. active role in public land management. The list includes presentations, publications, local • Nonpublic Institutions and Organizations, such as community education opportunities, and the Internet. service clubs, can serve to unify local business community interests to focus on forest Opportunities for new educational programs or learning management issues, and also promote volunteer experiencel> will flow from the creativity and efforts in tasks that relate to forest habitat'\, forest commitment of all interested AMA stakeholders. Here recreation, forest product utilization, and is a starting list of ideas for sharing information on community benefits . ecosystem management in the AMA : • Community Adoption of forest land tract'>. • Make presentations to clubs and organizations • Jnvolve BLM or Forest Service staff in developing or teaching environmental science courses or Volunteers instructional units at local schools. • Set up outdoor ~ucation centers on AMA forest Partnerships and voluntcerism can play an important lands designed for use by local school classes for role in training local residents, both adult and youth, to field trips focusing on natural resources, biology, share in the process of maintaining and enhancing forest and earth sciences. ecosystems. • Develop interpretive trails and signs at sites of major project work, using vandal-resistant numbered • Form a Northern Coast Range AMA Volunteer signs chat coordinate with narrative on small Assoc1ation; brochures. • Provide opportunities for structured volunteer • Train local teachers to bring classes into the woods to activities, such as: adopt o forest road, adopt a collect monitoring information on management activities in the AMA. 51 • Establish plots of forest land to be managed on an • Information on meeting dates and locations for ongoing basis by teachers and students from local volunteer groups or educational programs in the schools. AMA; • Help establish social science curricula in local hi gh • Opportunities to volunteer with the agencies for schools. in which the students themselves would speciftc projects--such as . to assist in monitoring conduct surveys and interviews of people in local the usc of a project area by certain bird species; to communities. Such studies would promote better adopt a particular segment of road or trail; to assist understanding of the needs, wants. and perceptions with transporting students to an outdoor education of the resident and seasonal populations of the event. AMA. • Opportunities to view a particular type of innovative • Encourage the formation of clubs and or ganizations tree harvesting operation--location, date, and focused on helping educate the public about limes, and who to contact management of forest resources on public lands. • Mail AMA reports and Project Updates to local The AMA management team will continue to search for organizations, schools. and libraries . new and more effect ive ways of informing and includinv • Present a variety of opportunities for involvement people from local communities. a gencies, anrf and/or education on the Northern Coast Range organizalions. AMA home page on the Internet, for example; 52 0 [J 0 CHAPTERS: D D IMPLEMENTATION 0 0 0 0 0 0 [;) Trees encroaching on meadow. til as part of the Northern Coast Range Adaptive 0 AMA Organization Management Area. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are expected to collaborate fully in 0 The Northwest Forest Plan includes lands administered management ofthe area. The AMA is almost evenly by both the Bureau of Land Management, Salem divided between national forest and BLM management District, Tillamook and Marys Peak Resource Areas ; units, as shown in Fig. 4. 0 and the Siuslaw National Forest, Hebo Ranger District; 0 Acres by Management Unit 0 Nonhero Coast Range AMA 0 Siuslaw NJo~ Hebo RD ' 151,000 Acres 0 Marys Peak Resource 0 Area 47,ll'o Acres () Q Tillamook D Resource Fig. 4. AMA Manag emenl Unils Area 86,168 Acres 53 D Who is responsible for AMA Decision space management? The Northwest Forest Plan is clear on its mandate that, in the Adaptive Management Areas, the agencies are to Following are the key BLM and Forest Service pursue: po~iuons: .. .localized, idiosyncratic approaches that may achieve • The line officers of the three management unite; are the conservation objectives of these standards and responsible for all management actions in their guidelines. .... These approaches rely on the exper~~nce respective administrative units. These officers are and ingenuity of resource managers and commun111es the Hebo District Ranger, the Tillamook Area rather than traditionally derived and tightly prescriptive Manager, and the Marys Peak Area Manager. approaches that are generally applied in management of foresLc; (Northwest Forest Plan 1994). • An AMA Coordinator (which could be an employee of either the Forest Service or the BLM) is The line officers of the three management units within assigned to act as an interagency liaison and to the AMA have responsibility for lands and resources on coordinate work across the various management federal lands within their respective units. Clearly, their units and with other federal, state, and local decisions must be consistent with applicable laws, agencies, Indian tribes, and the public. The agency regulations and policy, and approved plan!., Coordinator's principal office is located with the including the Northwest Forest Plan, the Siuslaw Forest employing unit, but he/she will spend at least 20 Plan, and the BLM Resource Management Plan. percent of his/her time working in the offices. o~ However, these planning documents create land the other management units, on a regular basts, m allocations and deal with land management issues order to improve coordination between agencies. mostly in broad, fairly general terms (with certain exceptions). If they were to include a great deal ofs tte • A Lead Scientist from the Pacific Northwest specific detail (if such detail were available) they would Research Station, USFS, is assigned to assist the take much more time to prepare, would be too lengthy to AMA staff in areas such as reviewing past and be easily usable, and would quickly become outdated. ongoing research in the AMA and north coast area, recommending priority research needs, The three AMA managers need to regularly make assisting in development ofsound scientific dec 1 ~ions to implement site-specific actions, under the project design where needed, aiding in . umbrella of the land-use allocations and standards development of effec tive research and monrtorlng contained in the plans. Local agency managers still techniques, a nd providing liaison with other have considerable discretion regarding: scientists. • Management actions designed to test the Standards • The management units provide key contact persons in and Guides of the Northwest Forest Plan each management unit to assist wllh coordinatiOn • Priorities for accomplishment of various goals of AMA activities between

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