The increasing use of litigation as a tool to influence land management decisions has been documented within the Forest Service. The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), which allows successful litigants to recover attorney fees and other legal expenses from the federal government, has come under much scrutiny in discussions surrounding Forest Service litigation. In spite of increasing interest surrounding the relationship between litigation directed at land management agencies and the EAJA, no empirical research had ever attempted to examine this issue. This two part exploratory study used records obtained from land management agencies through the Freedom of Information Act and publicly available tax return records to examine several aspects of the Equal Access to Justice Act's role in land management litigation. According to agency records, the Forest Service paid out over $6 million in EAJA awards from 1999 through 2005. Agency records also showed that the Bureau of Land Management paid over $2.5 million dollars in EAJA awards from 1991 through 2005. The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were unable to provide usable records regarding the amount of fees paid by each respective agency. The study also found that the entities receiving the largest number of EAJA awards were all tax-exempt environmental organizations. Interestingly, ten of the fourteen organizations that were examined for having received multiple EAJA awards also appear on Gambino et al.'s (under review) list of frequent Forest Service litigators. While this finding suggests that the EAJA may be providing a monetary incentive for these organizations to institute litigation against land management agencies, further research is needed to understand the degree to which this is happening. / Master of Science

No description available.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF LORI A. BARROW, for the Master of Science degree in FORESTRY, presented on October 18, 2012 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR USDA FOREST SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Erin Seekamp and Dr. Andrew Carver In an era of constrained appropriations and increasingly complex social and environmental challenges, partnerships have become an essential tool for public land management agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service (USFS), to accomplish critical tasks, meet management goals, and enhance service delivery. Despite the growing practice and reliance on partnerships as an alternative management strategy, few empirical assessments of this management approach have been conducted, and knowledge is limited regarding the structure and function of these relationships. Therefore, the goals of this study were to expand the established partnership knowledge base by systematically examining the institutional characteristics necessary to foster a vibrant partnership culture, uncovering and documenting the various partnership structural types being utilized, and determining whether or not institutional characteristics or external environment characteristics are related to the partnership approach utilized by USFS personnel. To explore these partnership characteristics, and assess whether differences existed between administrative levels and between national forest, an online questionnaire was administered to agency personnel on 13 randomly selected forests during the fall of 2011. Forests were randomly selected from three stratum of internal commitment from all 155 national forests' "Working Together" webpage. Of the 1584 respondent sample, 611 completed the questionnaire (40% response rate). Data collected clearly document a steady increase in the reliance of partnerships as a management strategy in recreation and resource service delivery. While the findings reveal diverse partnership support networks, respondents reported few incentives to cultivate partnerships and limited recognition for their partnership work. Furthermore, this study confirms that agency personnel work with multiple types of volunteer or partnering groups on a fairly regular basis, and make strategic choices when selecting and cultivating partnerships based on the types of work typically performed and their access and proximity to different partnering groups. Moreover, a mixed-method cluster analysis provided further insight into agency-partner interactions by identifying and defining partnership structural types and exposing variation in personnel's capacity to engage partners based on the level of internal support received, the extent of the national forest's partnership dependency, and type of external environment that categorizes the communities adjacent to the national forest (i.e., urban or rural). As the partnership phenomenon continues to be espoused by the USFS as an innovative and alternative management strategy, this thesis provides agency personnels' depiction of the agency's capacity to engage and support partnerships at multiple administrative levels and on different national forests, and helps build the foundation for managing national forests through partnerships.

Forest Service grazing permits for cattle and sheep were analyzed. A livestock and land resource summary was completed for each non-temporary permit reported on the 98 forests in the twelve western states. The economic feasibility of private rangeland improvements to offset public land grazing in Rich County, Utah, was analyzed in the second section of this thesis. The internal rate of return for various projects was computed. The internal rate of return was used as an indicator of the economic feasibility to ranchers. These estimates were made on a county basis and do not apply to any particular ranch situation.

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Many products are harvested from the forests of the United States in addition to timber. These non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are plants, parts of plants, or fungi that are harvested from within and on the edges of natural, disturbed or managed forests. Often, NTFPs are harvested from public forests for the socio-economic benefit they provide to rural collectors. Social science and market research methods were used to examine the extent that NTFPs are addressed in national forest management plans, identify and explore issues that affect their management, and determine the attitudes and perceptions of forest managers at various levels within the U.S. Forest Service. Non-timber forest products have not been considered in national forest management plans to the extent that have other forest resources. Fewer that 25 percent of the current management plans for the national forests of eastern United States address NTFPs. However, the Forest Service Directive System provides sufficient policy and procedural direction at the national and regional level for the management for NTFPs and legislation enacted in 2000 directs the Forest Service to develop a pilot program to beginning managing for these products. Managers with expertise and education in botany, wildlife, recreation, and wilderness had significantly more positive attitude toward managing for NTFPs than did managers with a more traditional (timber-based) educational background. A regression model of intention to include NTFPs in the forest management plans was developed using data from forest managers and based on the Theory of Reasoned Action. Both attitude and perception were found to be significant determinants of behavior intention. A common perception among forest managers is that NTFP management is not an issue of public concern. Also, managers do not perceive that the lack of management is a problem. Without a visible and vocal constituency, the impetus for change must necessarily come from within the organization. Efforts by the U.S. Forest Service to manage for NTFPs will be hampered by a lack of information and expertise. But, the activities of more progressive national forests suggest that sufficient knowledge does exist for the agency to take a more proactive approach to management. / Ph. D.

Public involvement and participation in Forest Service decision-making is a contentious issue attended by charges and countercharges, unsubstantiated accusations and counterclaims, and value-based arguments by all entities involved. Yet, the numbers of studies to substantiate the debate is relatively minimal and tend to be sporadic, reoccurring during times of national forest management crises, which is inappropriate and shortsighted. Moreover, the studies tend to be quantitative or anecdotal in nature and have largely failed to identify or resolve the problems associated with public involvement and participation in Forest Service decision-making, as well as litigation, and yet researchers continue to advocate for comprehensive, systematic, empirical examinations without considering the possible benefits that comprehensive, systematic, qualitative research could contribute to identifying and possibly resolving such problems. Thus, a comprehensive, systematic, in-depth, qualitative analysis of public comments, administrative appeals, and legal arguments from 12 Forest Service project-level activities, and their seven associated lawsuits, on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, was conducted. The results suggest that there is an interested and vocal minority of individuals and environmental special-interest groups that dominate project-level public involvement and participation processes on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, and that these public involvement and participation processes work in reverse, providing incentives for post-decisional challenges and discouraging pre-decisional information-sharing, collaboration, and compromise. Therefore, the public, the academic community, the Forest Service, and Congress, must challenge the status quo and make needed changes to ensure that public involvement and participation processes are truly democratic and to reduce incentives for post-decisional challenges. / Master of Science

The United States Forest Service planning processes, which are driven in large part by the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), are a part of all major (and some minor) land management decisions by the agency. The outcomes of these processes are the result of multiple factors, many related to the manifold smaller incremental decisions made by agency personnel directing the processes. Through qualitative review of 21 NEPA documents and 5 case study processes in which we interviewed decision makers, team leaders, and team members, this study examines those incremental decisions and the factors that drive them. Risk emerged as a dominant lens through which agency personnel weigh and make process-related decisions. We identify the different types of risk perceived by agency actors and the risk management strategies they employ. Our interviews suggest that different actors within the agency tend to assume responsibility for responding to different forms of risk associated with particular tasks. Most time and energy appears to be focused on minimizing process-related risks, especially those caused by external entities in the form of public opposition and threats of appeal/litigation, rather than resource-related threats. We discuss the potential implications of this focus and its associated strategies on organizational and social learning within agency planning processes, on adaptive ecosystem management, and internal agency relationships and morale. / Master of Science

Federal revenue sharing programs aim to make up lost tax revenue to counties that contain federal land, as counties do not receive any property tax revenue from publicly owned lands. This may have a significant impact on rural school districts with a limited tax base, as most funding for public education comes from property tax revenue. My analysis seeks to determine the full impact of certain federal revenue sharing payments (paid out by the U.S. Forest Service) on school districts in counties that contain U.S. Forest Service land. My analysis shows that the payments have little impact on school district budgets, indicating that states likely smooth for variations in the U.S. Forest Service payments.

No description available.