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Southern Forest Resource Assessment
A lesson in releasing controversial research findings
Southern Research Station
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National Forest System: land & resource management of national forests
State & Private Forestry: fire & aviation, cooperative forestry, landowner advice, forest health protection
Research & Development: science policy & planning; resource valuation & use; vegetation management & protection; wildlife, fish, watershed
Forest Service Programs
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Forest Service Budget Allocations
Research
Assisting States
Managing publicforests
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Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
Research Locations
Station Headquarters
Major Field Locations
Experimental Forests
TX
OK AR
LA
MS
KY
TN
AL
FL
VA
NC
SC
GA
Asheville
Nacogdoches
Monticello
Pineville
New Orleans
Saucier
Stoneville
StarkvilleAuburn
Athens
Franklin
Clemson
Charleston
Blacksburg
RTP
Raleigh
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$49 million appropriated budget, with an additional $2.7 million in “soft” funding
$13 million to fund cooperative research
135 paneled scientists (Ph.D.), additional 300 technical and administrative employees
26 research units at 18 locations--laboratories, experimental forests, universities
275 refereed-journal articles, 366 other publications
Southern Research Station
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Breadth of active research
Southern Research Station
Wood Quality
“Sustain Forests and the Values they Provide People.”
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Southern Research Station
Aquatics
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Southern Research Station
Natural Regeneration
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Southern Research Station
Biobased Products
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Southern Research Station
Species at Risk
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Southern Research Station
Biological Productivity
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Southern Research Station
Insects and Diseases
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Southern Research Station
Conservation Education
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First understand steps needed to ensure sustainable forests
Second address public concerns about apparent increases in portable chip mills
Why engage in a regional assessment?
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• A 2-year effort sponsored by 3 Federal agencies (EPA, F&W, FS) and 13 State agencies
• A 600-page report in 25 chapters, all drafted by different authors
• Accompanying summary report, hypertext Web site, searchable CD, Journal of Forestry issue, custom maps
• Focused on forest health, water quality, harvesting, land use, communities at risk
An Ambitious Project
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A Risky Effort
• Partnership of forest management, science, and regulatory agencies--issues of credibility, internal communications, turf & trust
• Spanning a change from Democrat to Republican Administrations
• Indefinite delays likely if new Administration detected “value-laden” statements or bias towards previous Administration’s priorities
• State Foresters vulnerable to criticism that their water quality protection less rigorous than neighboring States
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And more risks
• NGOs considered harvesting the biggest threat to forest health and sustainability--unlikely to embrace any other outcome
• Forest industry concerned that assessment would support NGO conclusions
• Media didn’t know what to believe but understood the value of controversy in selling newspapers
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The Challenge
Create an assessment process that:
• Ensures public input and buy-in
• Coordinates the work of 25 authors (researchers, managers, regulators) and 100+ reviewers (universities, industry, NGOs)
At the same time avoiding:
• Premature release of unverified data
• “Politicization” of the way scientists criticize and improve each other’s work
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• Used questions to frame chapters
• Held public meetings to identify questions; allowed 3-month public comment period on draft report
• Subjected entire 600 pages to blind peer review and guaranteed anonymity of reviewers
• Made sure partner agencies employees understood findings & implications
• Began building key messages by brainstorming the toughest questions that reporters might ask
• Practiced and stuck to key messages
• Resisted requests for advance release of findings
What We Did Right
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• Produced a draft for public comment and a final report within projected time frames
• Withstood NGO attempts to promote an 11th hour report, offering no data but presenting a competing assessment of southern forest sustainability
• Engendered enough confidence in our credibility for media to build stories on the findings rather than the validity of the findings
• Following a FOIA request for peer reviews, AJC satisfied with our reasons for withholding reviewer identities and their subjective comments
Measures of Success
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The South is using the assessment findings
• to set priorities for research and public land acquisition
• to improve water quality through more effective Best Management Practices
• to formulate landowner and community assistance programs
Finally and most importantly…
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Questions?
Southern Forest Resource Assessment
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Specific products and services
• COMPASS quarterly catalog with featured publications
• ANNUAL REPORT of research accomplishments
• State-by-State UPDATES for Senators and Representatives
• Web-based BRIEFINGS available for Congressional staffers
Southern Research Station
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State-of-art Internet presence
• Between 20,000 and 40,000 “hits” a day
• Half million publications downloaded a year
• Reduction of hard-copy mailings from 75,000 to 21,000 a year
Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
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Concentrating on timely delivery of quality products and services
• Developed a publications evaluation card for feed back on accessibility/quality of science products
• Offered online delivery of publications, data bases, presentations
•Collaborating on One-Stop Shopping to give seamless nationwide access to all online publications
Southern Research Station
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Making research accessible to the general public
• Used Web site to publish scientist profiles and contact information
• Hired a science writer to concentrate on research “stories”
• Met monthly to review article galleys and select the best for news releases
• Helped scientists to incorporate the “so what” into manuscripts, proposals, and briefings
Southern Research Station
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Conservation Education
• Connection to local communities
• Appreciation among youth for forests and forest management
• Interest in careers in forest science
Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
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Hypertext encyclopedia--the future
• Synthesizing 75 years of forest research
• Six modules, one complete
Southern Research Station
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Southern Research Station
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